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'MONEY; 


ITS 


i NATURE,  HISTORY,  USES,  AND 
RESPONSIBILITIES. 


NftD^iJork : 

III  PUBLISHED  BY  CARLTON  & PORTER, 

||||||  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION,  200  MULBERRY-STREET. 


■>.  h'>U  1 w ^ .3, 


EDITOR’S  PREFACE. 


! — 

This  book  is  an  appropriate  sequel  to 
Itj  No.  539  of  this  library,  entitled  “Money 
t Matters  explained  to  the  Young.”  That 
volume,  although  written  for  the  young, 
will  be  found  well  calculated  to  interest 
and  instruct  many  who  have  passed  the 
age  of  childhood.  It  will  enable  its  read- 
ers, whether  young  or  old,  to  proceed  to 
the  higher  and  more  advanced  discussions 
of  this  treatise  with  greater  profit  than 
Avould  follow  its  perusal  without  such  an 
introduction.  The  two  works  together 
will  explain  quite  satisfactorily  to  all 
readers  the  most  important  truths  con- 
nected with  this  great  practical  subject. 


4 


EDITOR’S  PREFACE. 


Yet  the  two  works  were  produced  by 
different  authors.  While  the  former  is 
of  American,  the  present  is  of  English 
origin ; hence  many  of  its  illustrations 
relate  particularly  to  the  commerce  and 
history  of  Great  Britain. 

In  the  revision,  whenever  it  has  been 
deemed  necessary,  the  currency  of  for- 
eign countries  has  been  changed  to  that 
of  our  own.  In  many  cases,  however, 
such  changes  have  not  seemed  to  he  re- 
quired. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  by  any  that  the 
subject  of  this  book  is  a popular  one. 
We  hope  that  all  who  may  read  its 
pages  will  not  only  acquire  useful  infor- 
mation about  silver  and  gold,  but  also 
concerning  the  duty  and  the  proper 
mode  of  laying  up  treasures  in  heaven. 


New-Yobk,  1853. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  p^GE 

I.  THE  money-maker:  a short  lesson  in  so- 

cial ANATOMY 7 

II.  money-making:  how  society  gets  rich 24 

III.  the  chemistry  of  money  : a few  words  about 

capital 54 

IV.  money  current:  a few  words  about  gold, 

silver,  and  bank-notes 77 

V.  THE  morals  of  MONEY:  THE  FALLACIES  AND 

FAILINGS  OF  MONEYED  MEN 138 

VI.  MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN  : BENEVOLENCE 

SPEAKING  BY  EXAMPLE 174 

APPENDIX— ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  SAVINGS’ 

BANKS.... 205 


S 


, <v'S 
? V ■'f''  :f- 


;X'^ 


MONEY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  money-maker:  a short  lesson  in  social 

ANATOMY. 

The  subject  of  this  little  volume  is  money  ; that 
powerful  agent  which  sets  in  motion  the  various 
and  complicated  wheels  of  society,  and  without 
which  the  whole  mighty  machine  would  speedily 
come  to  a pause.  Not  less  important  also  is  the 
influence  of  money  on  individual  interests.  So 
greatly  has  it  been  prized  by  mankind,  that  it 
has  even  been  boldly  defined  as  an  object,  the 
possession  or  non-possession  of  which  makes  the 
difference  whether  life  be  an  enjoyment  or  a 
task  ; whether  it  be  a walk  over  a smooth  verdant 
lawn  amid  fragrant  flowers  and  aromatic 
shrubs,  or  a wearisome  journey  through  thorns 
and  briers.  Poets  have  sung,  moralists  have 
declaimed,  and  philosophers  have  speculated, 
respecting  money.  It  is  the  object  which  has 
occupied  the  mind  and  inthralled  the  affections 


8 


MONEY. 


in  all  ages.  Five  thousand  years  have  rolled 
along  their  course,  but  amid  the  mighty  alter- 
ations which  the  lapse  of  time  has  wrought,  no 
abatement  is  witnessed  in  the  eagerness  with 
which  the  vast  mass  of  mankind  pursue  money 
as  the  great  object  of  life.  Knowledge,  however, 
has  poured  light  upon  this  as  upon  all  other  sub- 
jects. If  it  has  not  led  men  to  love  money  less 
than  their  forefathers  did,  it  has  at  least  enabled 
them  better  to  understand  the  laws  which  reg- 
ulate its  production  and  distribution ; it  has 
shown  also  that  although  a power  liable  to  great 
abuses,  it  deserves  to  be  rescued  from  the  indis- 
criminate denunciations  in  which  some  have  in- 
dulged, and  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  a ben- 
eficial and  social  agent  devised  by  God  for  the 
welfare  of  men. 

It  is  not  our  intention,  in  the  present  treatise, 
to  speak  of  money  merely  as  it  is  known  to  our 
readers  in  the  familiar  shape  of  gold  and  silver 
coin,  or  bank-notes.  While  largely  adverting 
to  these  topics,  we  shall  take,  in  their  proper 
places,  a more  comprehensive  view  of  the  sub- 
ject. It  will  be  our  aim  accordingly  to  show, 
in  a popular  manner,  the  wisdom  of  the  present 
constitution  of  society,  of.  which  money  is  the 
grand  main-spring.  We  shall  then  endeavor  to 
explain  the  mode  in  which  that  material  wealth 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


9 


of  which  money  is  the  representative  is  acquired. 
The  history  of  gold,  silver,  and  other  symbols 
of  value  will  next  pass  in  review ; the  uses  and 
abuses  of  money  will  be  likewise  noticed ; and 
some  examples  will  be  furnished  of  men  who 
largely  benefited  their  day  and  generation  by  the 
right  employment  of  this  great  talent.  The  phi- 
losophy, history,  use,  and  abuse  of  money,  form, 
in  short,  our  theme. 

We  have  said  that  money  is  the  great  motive 
power  which  sets  in  action  the  complicated 
wheels  of  society.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to 
a full  comprehension  of  this  statement,  that  the 
principles  upon  which  society  has  been  framed 
by  the  all -wise  Creator  should  be  clearly  under- 
stood, especially  as  very  erroneous  theories  have 
been  widely  disseminated,  not  only  in  Europe, 
but  in  our  own  country,  upon  the  subject — the- 
ories which  would  discard  the  use  of  money,  and 
propose  as  its  substitute  some  wild  and  untried 
organizations  of  labor. 

If  these  views  were  merely  speculative  we 
might  pass  them  by  without  concern ; but  they 
are  eminently  practical,  and  if  carried  out  would 
inflict  enormous  injury  upon  our  social  interests. 
They  would  cripple  the  money-making  energies 
of  the  social  system,  and  this  we  do  not  scruple 
to  regard  as  one  of  the  worst  evils  of  a tempo- 


10 


MONEY. 


ral  kind  which  could  befall  us.  When  society 
is  making  money/’  it  is  acquiring  a larger  stock 
of  those  things  which  add  to  the  convenience 
and  happiness  of  its  members.  Hence  it  is  a 
serious  thing  when  society  ceases  to  grow  rich. 
We  may  know  then  that  the  limit  of  future  com- 
fort is  not  far  off,  and  then  an  epoch  of  priva- 
tion is  about  to  commence. 

Society  is  often  spoken  of,  in  the  language  of 
personification,  as  a sentient  being.  This  anal- 
ogy is  not  altogether  fanciful;  there  is  much 
truth  in  it.  Like  the  human  body,  it  is  endowed 
with  many  members,”  each  of  which  is  fitted 
to  discharge  a distinct  office,”  while  all  are  ab- 
solutely inter-dependent  on  each  other.  On  ex- 
amining our  own  physical  constitution,  we  find 
it  to  be  a most  ingeniously  constructed  mechan- 
ism. The  hand,  the  eye,  and  the  ear,  are  mar- 
vels ; so  also  are  the  blood-vessels  and  nerves, 
by  means  of  which  a constant  and  instantaneous 
communication  is  kept  up  with  every  corner  of 
the  system.  But  if  we  contemplate  society  with 
an  eye  to  its  internal  arrangements,  we  shall  be 
struck  with  contrivances , if  we  may  so  call  them, 
equally  remarkable.  We  see  a vast  array  of  dif- 
ferent talents  and  employment,  a wide  labyrinth 
of  passions  and  pursuits,  all  working  together 
with  a wonderful  degree  of  harmony,  each  fall- 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


11 


ing  in  with,  and  aiding  the  peculiar  action  of  the 
rest.  It  is  true  we  can  also  perceive  here  and 
there  much  that  is  unsightly  and  that  betokens 
imperfect  action ; but  this  no  more  weakens  the 
general  impression  of  consummate  design,  than 
the  diseases  which  sometimes  disfigure  the  hu- 
man body  succeed  in  blinding  our  eyes  to  its  ad- 
mirable mechanism.  In  the  human  body,  more- 
over, we  are  aware  of  the  presence  of  something 
which  we  denominate  life,  an  energy  distinct 
from  physical  organization,  though  closely  con- 
nected with  it,  and  on  the  maintenance  of  which 
the  harmony  and  even  the  existence  of  the  whole 
depends.  Nothing  in  physical  organization  can 
compensate  the  loss  of  life.  The  hands  may  be 
exquisitely  fashioned,  every  limb  may  have  been 
cast  in  the  most  perfect  mold,  the  face  and  head 
may  rival  in  nobleness  the  inimitable  sculptures 
of  Canova ; but  let  this  inward  energy  expire, 
the  embers  of  this  mysterious  fire  die  out, 
and  ere  long  the  whole  will  return  to  its  original 
dust.  So  also,  apart  from  the  outward  ar- 
rangements of  society,  we  discern  in  it  a princi- 
ple of  life  which  keeps  the  vast  system  stirring. 
Life  is  one  of  the  grand  features  of  society; 
we  hear  it  in  the  rattle  of  our  crowded  streets, 
in  the  hum  of  the  exchange,  in  the  roar  of 
the  factory,  in  the  shouts  of  its  thousand  op- 


12 


MONEY. 


eratives,  in  the  shriek  of  the  steam-engine,  in  the 
din  of  Billingsgate  and  Covent  Garden,  and  the 
strange  music  of  our  city  cries.”  We  see  the 
same  in  the  pressure  of  man  on  man  in  the  pur- 
suits of  trade,  in  the  eagerness  of  competition, 
the  multiplicity  of  inventions,  the  rise  of  new 
professions  in  response  to  the  call  of  newly  de- 
veloped wants,  in  the  onward  movement  which 
carries  society  along  with  it  to  different,  and  al- 
most always  better  conditions  of  existence.  If 
we  look  within  us  we  find  the  sources  of  this 
public  life  in  the  zest  with  which  we  give  our- 
selves up  to  business,  seeking  at  every  step  to 
make  it  the  means  of  promoting  the  well-being 
of  ourselves,  and  of  those  whom  Providence  has 
made  dependent  upon  our  exertions.  Where 
these  private  impulses  are  most  vigorous,  as  in 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  society  travels  at 
the  quickest  pace,  trades  and  manufactures  are 
developed  with  the  greatest  energy,  and  a con- 
stant advance  is  made  in  civilization  ; but  where 
these  industrial  impulses  are  weakest,  as  in  Tur- 
key, there  society  stands  still,  and  ultimately 
falls  to  pieces. 

We  are  justified,  then,  in  regarding  society  as 
an  organized  body,  pervaded  by  a vital  force, 
upon  the  maintenance  of  which  its  functions  and 
even  its  existence  depend ; but  before  proceed- 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


13 


ing  to  the  inferences  which  such  an  illustration 
suggests,  we  will  pause  before  one  or  two  of  the 
chief  phenomena  which  society  presents.  The 
contemplation  of  these  will  show  us  the  compar- 
ative excellence  of  its  working,  as  well  as  the 
magnitude  and  responsibility  of  the  task  which 
those  persons  undertake  who  rashly  propose  to 
innovate  in  the  very  fundamentals  of  the  social 
system. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  which  char- 
acterize the  existing  social  system,  is  the  ease  with 
which  the  diversified  wants  of  large  communities 
are  met.  This  involves  an  amount  of  individual 
distribution  and  combination  which  no  degree  of 
wisdom  and  energy  could  have  arranged  before- 
hand. How  innumerable  are  our  wants ! Where 
shall  we  begin  to  reckon  them  ? First  in  import- 
ance are  those  which  relate  to  subsistence.  What 
a quantity  and  variety  of  food  do  we  require  1 
Simple  bread  and  water  will  not  do.  We  must 
have  food  of  a dozen  different  kinds  and  flavors  ; 
we  must  have  the  produce  of  the  dairy,  the  gar- 
den, the  vinery,  the  orchard ; we  must  have  tea 
and  coffee,  chocolate  and  spices,  and  our  table 
must  be  occasionally  replenished  with  oranges, 
raisins,  tamarinds,  and  pine-apples.  Next  to 
food  we  must  perhaps  place  dress  and  the  means 
of  shelter.  Here,  too,  our  wants,  real  and  arti- 


14 


MONEY. 


ficial,  are  all  but  numberless.  Canvas,  it  is 
true,  would  answer  the  purposes  of  covering, 
and  a blanket  would  furnish  us  with  all  the 
warmth  we  could  desire ; but  who  would  be 
content  with  these  ? JSTo ! our  limbs  must  be 
wrapped  in  hose  and  flannel;  cotton  must  be 
covered,  to  suit  our  taste,  with  all  the  novelties 
of  color  and  design  ; we  must  have  linen  and 
cloth  and  silk  and  fur  ; grasses  and  gossamer 
must  furnish  an  array  for  the  head,  while  the 
hides  of  animals  must  yield  a defense  for  the 
feet.  To  mention  our  houses  is  to  add  another 
legion  to  the  catalogue  of  our  wants  ; our  chairs, 
tables,  carpets,  curtains,  earthenware,  pictures, 
glasses,  musical  instruments,  besides  the  various 
articles  required  in  the  construction  of  the  dwell- 
ing itself ; how  many  hands  are  needed  to  pro- 
vide them  ! In  whatever  other  direction  we 
look  around,  the  prospect  is  equally  boundless 
and  diversified.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  an 
English  or  American  family  of  the  middle  class 
requires  hundreds  of  separate  professions  in  or- 
der to  enjoy  an  average  amount  of  the  comforts 
and  conveniences  of  life.  And  how  different  are 
these  professions  from  each  other ! How  menial 
and  laborious  are  some,  how  skillful  and  artistic 
are  others  ! How  high  do  some  stand  in  public 
estimation — how  low  do  others  fall ! Who  shall 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


15 


decide  which  of  these  professions  a man  shall 
enter?  Who  shall  guaranty  that  all  shall  he 
well  supplied  ? Who  shall  arrange  that  all  may 
work  into  each  other’s  hands,  so  as  to  agree  in 
time  and  place  with  the  supply  of  our  wants  ? 
It  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that  no  amount 
of  energy  and  forethought  which  has  ever  yet 
been  found  possessed  by  any  man,  or  number  of 
men,  would  be  sufficient  to  do  this.  Yet  how 
completely  and  regularly  is  it  done  for  us  ! A 
vast  population  divides  itself  of  its  own  accord 
into  distinct  groups,  each  of  which  forthwith 
enters  upon  some  department  of  labor ; the  mine, 
the  factory,  the  warehouse,  the  shop,  each  is 
filled  with  voluntary  occupants,  while  others 
cross  the  seas  to  bring  over  the  productions  of 
other  lands.  Whenever  a want  is  felt  to  a suffi- 
cient extent  to  produce  a demand,  then  laborers 
at  once  are  found  striving  to  furnish  a supply. 
All  this  is  done  without  coercion,  without  other 
than  individual  design ; no  central  committee 
issues  its  decrees,  no  policeman  is  called  in  to 
enforce  a theoretic  organization  of  labor ; every 
man  is  free  to  work  or  remain  idle,  and  to  work 
in  just  what  sphere  he  pleases.  How  marvel- 
ous the  law  which  thus  reconciles  the  freedom 
of  the  individual  with  the  welfare  of  the  whole  ! 
What  a striking  display  of  divine  wisdom  ! How 


16 


MONEY. 


completely  are  the  communistic  inventions  of 
modem  times  anticipated  and  outdone ! 

Social  phenomena  hardly  less  remarkable  are 
seen  in  the  almost  uniform  •price  at  which  the 
same  article  can  he  purchased  throughout  an  ex- 
tensive district,  and  the  general  employment  of 
the  people  in  those  departments  of  labor  which 
are  lihely  to  yield  most  profit.  If  we  had  to 
frame  a social  system,  it  would  be  most  import- 
ant to  secure,  by  some  means,  both  these  ob- 
jects. It  would  be  unfortunate,  if  not  unfair, 
for  those  who  live  in  Lancashire  to  pay  twice  as 
much  for  the  necessaries  of  life  as  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Kent  and  Devon.  It  would  be  difficult, 
perhaps  impossible,  to  effect  this  equalization  by 
any  artificial  plan,  whereas  it  is  accomplished 
with  ease  by  individual  enterprise,  acting  in  obe- 
dience to  the  great  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
The  merchant  wants  to  get  the  highest  possible 
price  for  his  commodities ; this  is  in  general  the 
single  point  about  which  he  troubles  himself. 
It  is  nothing  to  him  at  what  price  they  may  ul- 
timately be  sold,  nor  what  may  suit  the  conven- 
ience of  the  people  of  London,  Lancashire,  or 
Devon  ; his  anxiety  is  just  to  obtain  as  much  as 
he  can  in  return  for  his  merchandise.  But  this 
motive  answers  the  purpose  of  the  most  profound 
combination  and  the  most  benevolent  intentions. 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


17 


If  his  goods  will  fetch  more  a thousand  miles 
off  than  they  would  at  home,  after  deducting 
the  expense  of  carriage,  he  will  not  hesitate  to 
send  them  there.  But  if  a considerable  number 
of  merchants,  each  acting  on  the  same  plan, 
send  so  many  commodities  to  one  place  that  its 
inhabitants  have  more  than  their  proper  share, 
the  price  will  instantly  fall  as  compared  with 
that  attainable  at  other  markets,  and  the  super- 
abundance will  soon  be  directed  thither.  Beau- 
tiful as  the  winding  of  a fertilizing  stream  is  the 
course  of  the  world’s  produce.  Calmly  it  flows 
on  in  the  path  marked  out  for  it  by  Providence, 
cheering  now  the  rural  hamlet,  and  anon  spread- 
ing its  beneficence  in  the  heart  of  congregated 
thousands. 

How  important  is  it  that  the  enterprise  of  a 
community  should  be  directed  into  the  most  prof- 
itable channels  ! The  working  man  understands 
this  very  well  as  applied  to  the  narrower  in- 
terests of  home.  He  is  well  aware  that  the 
aggregate  income  and  consequent  condition  of 
his  family  depend  upon  their  being  employed  in 
that  kind  of  labor  in  which  the  highest  wages  can 
be  obtained ; and  he  would  count  it  ruinous  to 
toil  for  ten  shillings  a week  if,  by  turning  his  at- 
tention to  something  else,  he  could  earn  thirty. 
The  mode  in  which  he  employs  his  labor  evi- 
2 


18 


MONEY. 


dently  determines  the  comparative  poverty  or 
affluence  in  which  he  lives.  All  this  is  equally 
true  of  the  entire  commonwealth.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  capital  and  labor  of 
every  community  should  he  employed  in  those 
particular  pursuits  which  will  prove  most  lucra- 
tive ; this  is,  indeed,  decisive  to  a great  extent 
of  national  prosperity  or  ruin.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  obvious  that  no  artificial  arrangements,  no 
decrees  of  the  state  or  the  commune,  would  be 
able  to  accomplish  this  object ; it  would  require 
an  extent  of  knowledge,  a depth  of  wisdom,  and 
an  array  of  coercive  power,  never  yet  beheld  in 
combination.  But  what  we  could  not  secure  by 
any  artificial  plan,  is  arranged  for  us  by  Provi- 
dence in  the  present  constitution  of  society.  The 
work  is  divided  into  an  almost  infinite  number 
of  shares,  and  each  individual  is  intrusted  with 
one.  The  entire  community  is  probably  making, 
under  any  given  circumstances,  the  best  possible 
use  of  its  resources,  since  every  member  of  the 
community  is  held  by  the  strongest  motives  to 
make  the  best  possible  use  of  his  own.  In  the 
busy  world  around  us  every  person  is  on  the 
look  out  to  improve  his  condition ; to  ascertain, 
namely,  whether  he  can  employ  his  labor  more 
profitably.  From  the  lowest  grades  of  handicraft 
to  the  highest  ranks  of  capital  and  skill,  we  find 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


19 


all  animated  with  one  desire.  Is  it  a sinful  or 
dishonorable  desire  ? By  no  means.  When  prop- 
erly regulated  it  is  quite  the  opposite.  We 
recognize  in  it  one  of  those  indications  too  often 
overlooked  which  proclaim  the  footsteps  of  an 
almighty  Architect. 

We  will  select  one  more  illustration  of  the 
working  of  our  social  system,  and  it  shall  be 
furnished  by  the  numerous  instances  of  success  in 
life  which  attract  our  attention  on  every  hand. 
Abused  as  this  success  may  at  times  be,  and  too 
eagerly  pursued  as  it  is  by  some  individuals,  it 
yet  forms  an  admirable  arrangement  of  Provi- 
dence for  stimulating  the  active  energies  of  the 
various  individuals  of  which  society  is  composed. 
We  will  take  the  pursuits  of  commerce  and 
manufactures.  What  a multitude  of  striking 
facts  meet  us  here  ! May  it  not  be  said,  without 
exaggeration,  that  we  see  around  us  a genera- 
tion of  princes  whose  fathers  were  peasants? 
Every  valley  of  our  manufacturing  districts  teems 
with  traditions  of  successful  industry.  Every- 
where individuals  can  be  pointed  out,  now  occu- 
pying the  highest  positions  of  social  distinction, 
who  once  tended  the  loom,  or  whose  parents 
were  once  the  occupants  of  some  humble  cot 
which  has  since  become  a sort  of  rudely-classic 
ground  to  the  operatives  employed  in  the  neigh- 


20 


MONEY. 


boring  factories.  It  is  there  told  how  one  per- 
son who  was  raised  some  years  ago  to  the  magis- 
terial bench,  came  into  the  district  at  first  a poor 
youth  from  Scotland,  carrying  all  his  treasures 
in  a handkerchief ; and  how,  some  forty  years 
since,  two  brothers  seated  themselves  on  an  emi- 
nence, which  is  now  covered  with  a grove  of  dark 
pines  and  crowned  with  a handsome  monument, 
ate  their  frugal  meal,  the  purchase  of  their  last 
penny,  and  surveyed  the  broad  valley  beneath, 
which  was  hereafter  to  become  but  a half  of  their 
ample  possessions.  Similar  facts  have  become 
historic.  A great  man,  recently  summoned  away, 
whom  history  will  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
British  statesmen,  regarded  it  as  an  honor  to  call 
himself  the  son  of  an  Englishman,  the  founder 
of  his  own  fortunes,  by  dint  of  honest  and  labori- 
ous exertion  in  the  pursuits  of  active  industry. 
But  it  is  not  in  one  department  alone  that  such 
instances  of  elevation  have  occurred ; in  science, 
literature,  politics,  and  the  legal  profession  we  see 
the  same ; men,  who  were  once  obscure,  break- 
ing their  way  through  intervening  obstacles  to 
positions  of  reputation  and  influence — slowly  but 
surely  rising  from  the  foremost  class  of  some 
country  grammar-school  to  a seat  in  the  cabinet, 
or  a place  on  the  judicial  bench.  Such  posts,  it 
Sir  Robert  PeeRs  inaugural  address  at  Glasgow 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


21 


is  acknowledged,  are  seldom  won  without  diffi- 
culty. In  order  to  reach  the  goal,  talents  must 
be  industriously  developed,  and  circumstances 
promptly  and  perseveringly  improved.  But  is 
this  a disadvantage  ? None  but  those  who  join 
imbecility  or  indolence  to  ambition  would  think 
it  so.  Before  we  are  permitted  to  grasp  the  prize 
it  is  well  to  be  forced  to  work  for  it.  The  efforts 
occasioned  by  such  a necessity  are  the  costliest 
part  of  the  reward.  It  is  the  discipline  acquired 
in  rising  to  greatness  which  fits  the  successful 
aspirant,  with  the  grace  of  God,  for  standing  on 
the  giddy  height.  Here  is,  in  fact,  another  proof 
of  the  divine  wisdom  in  the  arrangements  of 
society.  If  a man,  by  some  unexpected  reverse 
or  sudden  process,  found  himself  placed  at  once 
in  a position  of  great  power,  he  would  be  very 
prone  to  arrogance  and  self-conceit;  but  when, 
as  in  the  existing  order  of  things,  such  a position 
can  be  reached  only  by  a patient  struggle  with 
outward  obstacles,  and  the  diligent  application 
of  his  personal  talents,  he  acquires  at  the  same 
time  a certain  moderation  of  spirit  which  is  the 
true  safeguard  against  the  perils  incident  to  an 
exalted  station.  It  is  also  true  that  the  number 
of  those  who  succeed  in  realizing  wealth  and 
greatness  can  never  be  very  large ; the  mass  of 
mankind  must  always  occupy  a level  far  beneath. 


22 


MONEY. 


But  it  is  also  true  that  no  man  can  rise  by  legiti- 
mate means  without  drawing  others  after  him. 
All  connected  with  him  are  the  better  for  his 
elevation,  and  the  greater  the  number  of  persons 
who  attain  to  eminent  success,  the  greater  is  the 
number  of  those  who  are  partially  successful ; 
the  success  of  a few  raises  the  average  well-being 
of  all. 

We  have  thus  glanced  at  some  of  the  more 
striking  phases  of  the  social  system  already  pre- 
sented to  the  reader’s  notice.  We  might  adduce 
many  more  of  the  same  character,  but  these  will 
suffice  to  show  the  high  degree  of  excellence 
which  distinguishes  the  present  constitution  of 
society.  The  advantages  we  have  contemplated 
are  such  as  could  not  be  dispensed  with.  If 
they  were  not  enjoyed  communities  could  not 
exist.  It  is  obvious,  we  think,  that  these  bene- 
fits could  not  be  secured  by  any  artificial  arrange- 
ments ; the  vast  amount  of  contrivance,  over- 
sight, and  authority,  which  would  be  required  is 
itself  sufficient  to  render  that  impossible.  The 
important  objects  we  have  considered  must  be 
secured  by  laws  which  influence  the  individual 
in  his  separate  character,  or  not  at  all.  Varied 
as  these  laws  are,  they  may  all  be  traced  back 
to  the  operation  of  two  simple  principles — the 
disposition  which  every  person  feels  to  promote 


THE  MONEY-MAKER. 


23 


Ms  own  interests;  and  the  ^perfect  right  with 
which  he  feels  himself  invested  to  do  this,  pro- 
vided  s>nly  that  he  trench  not  on  the  rights  of 
others. 

It  were  easy,  did  space  permit,  to  vindicate 
these  principles,  and  to  show  their  superiority, 
especially  when  tempered  by  the  precepts  of 
Christianity,  over  those  propounded  by  social 
theorists  in  our  day.  But  we  have  brought 
these  questions  before  our  readers  merely  as  they 
are  connected  with  Money.  Money  is  the  power 
which  sets  in  motion  the  springs  of  action  which 
we  have  now  described,  or,  to  vary  the  simile,  it 
is  the  life-blood  which  gives  energy  and  warmth 
to  the  whole  frame  of  the  body  corporate.  Were 
society  to  be  cast  in  the  mold  prescribed  by  the 
theories  of  Owen  and  others,  money,  it  has  been 
asserted,  would  no  longer  be  required ; but  in- 
extricable confusion,  we  may  be  assured,  would 
inevitably  follow  any  attempt  to  introduce  a sub- 
stitute for  it.^  As  it  now  exists,  money  furnishes 
a short  and  admirable  mode  of  distributing  to 

""  The  scenes  of  distress  which  occurred  in  Paris  dur- 
ing the  French  revolution,  when  the  government  in- 
terfered with  the  purchase  of  bread,  and  distributed 
it  in  accordance  with  certain  artificial  regulations, 
powerfully  illustrate  the  anarchy  and  confusion  which 
would  follow  any  attempt  to  do  away  with  money  as 
a distributory  medium. 


24 


MONEY. 


each  individual  that  exact  portion  of  the  wealth 
of  society  to  which  he  can  prove  himself  legiti- 
mately entitled  ; it  is  adapted  alike  to  the  largest 
and  the  minutest  operations ; so  marvelous  and 
multifarious  indeed  is  its  agency  that  it  may  be 
questioned  which  is  more  wonderful — the  struc- 
ture of  society  itself,  or  money,  which  gives  vitality 
to  its  diversified  operations. 


CHAPTER  II. 

money-making:  how  society  gets  rich. 

It  is  our  object  in  the  present  chapter  to  show 
the  mode  in  which  society  gradually  becomes 
rich,  and  arrives  at  a state  when  the  use  of 
money  as  a circulating  medium  is  required. 
This  state  of  things  is  popularly  supposed  to  be 
accomplished  whenever  a country  abounds  in 
gold  and  silver.  We  need  hardly,  however,  re- 
mark that  there  is  a certain  amount  of  misappre- 
hension on  this  view  of  the  subject.  A country 
may  possess  heaps  of  gold,  and  yet,  in  one  sense, 
be  poor ; while  another  (as  was  the  case  with 
Scotland  during  the  last  century)  may  possess 
scarcely  any  bullion,  and  yet  be  rich  in  all  that 
constitutes  real  material  wealth.  Gold  and  sil- 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  KICK. 


25 


ver  are,  indeed — apart  from  their  metallic  uses — 
only  the  representatives  of  wealth ; and  in  de- 
voting our  consideration,  therefore,  in  the  present 
chapter,  to  the  mode  in  which  society  grows 
rich,  we  shall  have  to  deal  with  a state  of  mat- 
ters, much  of  which  precedes  the  use  of  the 
precious  metals  in  any  form. 

In  contemplating  society  as  it  is  exhibited  in 
the  history  of  mankind,  we  find  it  universally 
progressive.  Sometimes  this  tendency  has  been 
manifested  chiefly  in  a fruitless  struggle  with 
outward  obstacles,  and  still  oftener  the  process 
has  been  arrested  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  by 
some  political  catastrophe ; but  its  existence  is 
unquestionable.  A number  of  emigrants  fix  upon 
some  suitable  spot  as  their  future  home : let  us 
mark  the  result.  Their  stock  consists  at  first 
merely  of  a few  tools  and  weapons ; these,  and 
the  strong  arms  which  are  prepared  to  wield 
them,  are  the  young  foundations  of  wealth  and 
empire.  Soon  the  forest  resounds  with  the 
woodman's  ax,  and  the  first  step  is  presently 
taken  in  the  path  to  greatness ; a village  of  mud- 
cottages,  interspersed  with  patches  of  cultivated 
land,  which  is  covered,  as  autumn  advances, 
with  its  first  harvest.  Visit  the  same  spot  after 
the  lapse  of  fifty  years : those  rude  huts  have 
given  way  to  streets  of  brick  or  stone ; over  the 


26 


MONEY. 


tops  of  the  few  trees  which  still  remain  as  the 
hoary  representatives  of  a fallen  dynasty,  the 
domes  and  turrets  of  civic  structures  meet  the 
eye,  while  all  around  we  see  the  fruits  of  indus- 
try in  a profusion  of  gardens,  orchards,  corn- 
fields, and  meadow-lands.  Let  another  half- 
century  pass  by,  and  what  see  we  now  ? A 
spacious  city,  a mart  of  commerce,  the  floor  of 
whose  exchange  is  trodden  by  merchants  from 
every  clime.  Wherever  we  turn  our  attention 
is  attracted  by  objects  of  public  interest,  from 
countless  mast-heads  we  see  waving  the  colors 
of  all  nations,  while  our  ears  are  incessantly 
dinned  with  the  noise  of  the  steam-engine  or  the 
rattle  of  the  loom.  The  houses  of  the  wealthy 
abound  in  evidences  of  intelligence  and  taste,  and 
even  the  poorest — survey  his  cottage,  examine 
his  stock  of  food  and  clothing,  and  then  say  how 
much  better  is  he  off,  in  many  respects,  than  the 
first  settlers  who  cleared  the  first  acre,  and  ate 
their  first  thrifty  meal  beneath  the  shelter  of  a 
log  or  mud-cabin. 

This  is  the  process  which  has  taken  place 
wherever  men  have  dwelt  together,  from  the 
time  when  ^‘Asshur  went  forth  and  builded 
Nineveh,”  down  to  the  latest  settlement  among 
the  prairies  of  the  “far  west.”  Wherever  in- 
telligence and  industry  join  hands,  a career  of 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  2Y 

prosperity  commences,  something  is  continually 
won  from  the  earth  over  and  above  what  is  re- 
quired for  present  wants ; this  serves  as  a step- 
ping-stone to  a still  greater  surplus,  which  be- 
comes in  time  productive  of  one  still  greater. 
Not  only  does  wealth  increase,  but  a correspond- 
ing expansion  takes  place  in  the  physical  and 
intellectual  resources  of  the  state ; science,  phi- 
losophy, literature,  and  art  exhibit  the  signs  of 
regular  and  rapid  growth.  Discovery  succeeds 
discovery,  and  every  day  renders  all  natural  re- 
sources more  completely  subservient  to  the  wants 
of  man;  splendor  rears  its  halls  and  palaces, 
sculpture  molds  its  monuments  and  statues, 
while  poetry  diffuses  all  around  the  harmonies 
of  song.  If  we  compare  man  as  he  appears  in 
this  advanced  stage  of  civilization  with  his  former 
self,  when  he  reared  his  hut  on  the  edge  of  the 
^brest,  we  experience  the  same  impressions  as 
ivhen  the  eye  passes  from  the  sapling  oak  of 
yesterday  to  the  still  blooming  veteran  of  a 
thousand  winters.  We  feel  that  a glorious  crea- 
tion has  slowly  acquired  birth  and  being — a 
creation  finer,  perhaps,  even  than  the  old  moun- 
«;ains  and  bottomless  seas ; a commonwealth  of 
men,  a congress  of  kings  ; and  this  result  has 
been  attained,  not  by  theory,  not  by  a laborious 
induction  of  facts,  not  by  adopting  any  artificial 


28 


MONEY. 


system,  not  even  by  aiming  deliberately  at  its 
accomplishment,  but  simply  by  obeying  the 
practical  impulses  with  which  the  human  bosom 
is  inspired. 

But  some  would  deny  that  a highly  civilized 
condition  is  either  the  happiest  or  the  most 
natural  to  man.  'The  savage  state  is  lauded  as 
preferable  to  ours,  or  at  least  that  normal  stage 
of  civilization  when  women  were  all  clad  in  russet 
and  men  in  sober  gray;’’  when,  according  to  a 
pleasant  fiction,  all  had  enough,  and  none  had 
anything  to  spare ; when  architecture  soared  no 
higher  than  the  thatched-cottage,  and  mankind 
seemed  as  if  they  begged  permission  to  squat” 
upon  the  earth’s  surface,  instead  of  grasping  its 
dominion  with  a master’s  hand.  To  this  we  re- 
ply, that  whatever  attractions  such  a state  may 
seem  to  wear,  it  is  indebted  for  them  exclusively 
to  our  own  fancy.  This  faculty  is  sufficiently 
affluent  to  connect  ideas  of  romance  with  a com- 
pany of  naked  savages,  and  construct  an  arca- 
dian republic  out  of  tomahawks  and  wigwams. 
But  such  conceptions  are  merely  poetic  dreams. 
Man,  in  an  uncivilized  state,  is  ignorant,  sensual, 
superstitious,  and  we  know  that  such  qualities 
cannot  comport  with  happiness.  Equally  ground- 
less is  the  supposition  that  in  a savage  state  the 
wants  and  resources  of  mankind  were  ever  accu- 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


29 


rately  balanced.  It  might,  perhaps,  be  safely 
asserted,  that  the  possession  of  a bare  compe- 
tence is  only  possible  when  society  has  become 
civilized.  Society  itself  never  pauses,  it  always 
fluctuates  between  progress  and  decay,  and  those 
principles  which  do  not  lead  to  wealth  will  soon 
plunge  it  in  poverty.  Five  hundred  years  ago 
England  was  incomparably  poorer  than  it  is 
at  present,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
struggle  for  subsistence  was  the  less  arduous. 
The  poor  man  found  as  much  labor  required  to 
feed  his  children  with  beans  and  barley  as  the 
factory-operative  experiences  in  providing  his 
family  with  the  finest  wheat en  flour.  The  hard- 
est day’s  work  an  Englishman  is  required  to  un- 
dergo, and  for  which  he  is  remunerated  with  a 
thousand  domestic  comforts,  is  not  half  so  hard 
as  that  which  barely  suffices  to  keep  the  North 
American  Indian  above  the  point  of  absolute 
starvation.  Still  less  can  it  be  said  that  such  a 
primitive  state  is  natural  to  man.  A state  of 
nature,  when  man  is  the  theme,  is  not  composed 
of  nakedness,  ignorance,  penury,  and  brutal 
coarseness.  It  might  be  so  if,  as  some  philoso- 
phers have  thought,  the  progenitors  of  the  hu- 
man race  crawled  out  of  the  ground  like  snails, 
or  made  their  way  up  to  humanity  through  a 
dreary  set  of  piscatory  and  apish  transmigrations. 


30 


MONEY. 


It  would  then  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
their  first  scale  of  living  was  not  much  higher 
than  the  beaver’s,  though  even  on  this  supposi- 
tion it  would  not  follow  that  any  stage  of  im- 
provement, short  of  the  very  highest,  is  his  final 
goal.  But  the  circumstances  which  attended 
man’s  introduction  to  his  earthly  abode  were  so 
refined  that  a savage  state  could  never  be  any- 
thing but  an  unspeakable  degradation,  an  un- 
natural state,  which  he  was  bound,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  quit  forever.  On  looking  back,  we 
obtain  in  paradise  a faint  glimpse  of  our  true 
social  elevation.  Then  man  was  happy,  his  men- 
tal faculties  vigorous,  and  his  outward  condition 
all  that  could  be  desired.  Civilization  came, 
arrayed  in  her  native  radiance,  and  lavished  her 
treasures  on  the  holy  pair.  True,  sin  poured  its 
vial  on  the  lovely  scene,  and  our  next  glimpse 
of  man  presents  him  to  us  in  a sadly  altered 
state ; but  his  natural  elevation  is  still  that  of 
his  early  days,  which,  by  a long  redemptive  pro- 
cess, must  be  reached  again.  Hence  every  de- 
partment of  human  progress  is  beheld  centering 
in  the  same  design ; the  consolidation  of  society, 
the  growth  of  wealth,  the  cultivation  of  science 
and  art,  combine  with  the  specific  influences  of 
Christianity  in  restoring  man  to  that  which  alone 
can  be  regarded  as  his  proper  and  natural  con- 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


31 


dition,  in  raising  the  entire  race  to  that  pitch  of 
moral  and  physical  perfection  which  marked 
the  commencement  of  its  career. 

The  first  step  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth  is 
a recognition  of  the  rights  of  'property.  These 
rights  are  not  factitious ; they  do  not  exist  by 
virtue  of  any  social  compact;  they  are  inherent 
in  our  nature,  and  all  they  ask  from  us  is  a rec- 
ognition of  their  validity.  No  doctrine  in  the 
compass  of  social  science  is  more  important  than 
this.  It  is  the  key-stone  of  the  arch  which  con- 
ducts us  across  the  foaming  abyss  of  chaos,  and 
lands  us  on  the  rock  of  order.  Deny  these 
rights,  and  society  falls  to  pieces ; admit  them, 
and  little  more  than  their  consistent  application 
is  required  to  raise  it  to  the  highest  state  of 
material  well-being. 

A recognition  of  the  rights  of  property  tends 
to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  by  insuring  to  every 
man  the  fruits  of  his  own  labor.  Self-interest  is 
the  main- spring  of  social  life.  The  mechanic, 
the  merchant,  the  capitalist  all  agree  in  this ; 
each  consults  his  own  welfare,  each  asks,  ‘‘  What 
will  be  most  profitable  to  myself?’"'  and  this  de- 
termines the  fate  of  every  transaction.  All  the 
exchanges  at  this  moment  taking  place  in  the 
various  marts  of  Europe  have  been  arranged  in 
the  full  confidence  that  they  will  prove  advan- 


32 


MONEY. 


tageous  to  both  the  parties  concerned,  and  a 
reasonable  ^oubt  of  this  on  either  side  would 
have  prevented  them  from  being  made.  In  con- 
templating the  movements  of  self-interest,  we 
stand  in  the  engine-house  of  the  world,  and  be- 
hold the  power  which  moves  a large  portion  of 
the  machinery  of  human  affairs.  It  is  not  our 
object  now  to  vindicate  this  principle ; we  be- 
lieve it,  as  we  have  before  said,  when  regulated 
by  Christian  principle,  to  be  legitimate  and 
most  beneficent : but  let  us  simply  look  to  facts. 
What  merchant  would  sit  up  early  and  late  in 
his  counting-house  if  he  knew  that  at  the  year’s 
end  he  was  not  to  have  the  disposal  of  the  fruits 
of  his  toil?  What  operative  would  rise  cheer- 
fully at  the  sound  of  the  factory-bell,  stint  his 
meal-hours,  and  perhaps  work  on  till  near  mid- 
night, if  he  had  no  hope  of  receiving  proportion- 
ably  higher  wages  ? What  prudent  farmer  would 
spend  all  his  capital  in  improving  his  land  if  he 
knew  he  would  be  deprived  of  it  at  the  next 
rent- day  ? Such  conduct  would,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  be  in  the  highest  degree  un- 
reasonable. 

Since  the  chief  motive  to  labor  arises  from  the 
prospect  of  owning  its  results,  whatever  tends  to 
promote  the  security  of  property  may  be  regard- 
ed as  a source  of  wealth.  The  stronger  the 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  33 

guarantee  afforded  that  whoever  expends  his  la- 
bor in  any  enterprise  shall  reap  its  fruits,  the 
likelier  is  it  that  society  will  grow  richer.  To 
the  superior  stability  of  every  species  of  right 
in  free  states  may  we  ascribe  the  commercial 
eminence  they  have  generally  attained.  Enter- 
prise shrinks  into  inactivity  beneath  the  touch  of 
despotic  power.  Naboth’s  vineyard  was  lost 
when  it  attracted  the  cupidity  of  Ahab  ; and  it  is 
mentioned  as  a rare  instance  of  magnanimity  in 
an  absolute  sovereign  that  F rederick  the  Great  of 
Prussia  permitted  a windmill  to  stand  within 
sight  of  the  royal  palace,  out  of  deference  to 
the  owner.  The  peasantry  of  Wallachia  are  said 
to  exist  in  a state  of  the  most  abject  wretched- 
ness, and  yet  it  is  believed  that  most  of  them 
have  a hoard  of  gold  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
dwellings.  They  are  driven  to  wear  this  show 
of  poverty  by  the  extortionate  conduct  of  their 
governors,  whose  tenure  of  office  depends  upon 
the  amount  of  money  they  are  able  to  wring 
from  the  people.  It  is  instructive  to  reflect  that, 
while  money  is  thus  suffered  to  lie  unproductive 
beneath  the  soil,  the  Danube,  which  flows  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  is  almost  unnavigable 
for  want  of  capital.  But  it  is  not  political  cor- 
ruption alone  which,  by  rendering  property  inse- 
cure, prevents  the  acquisition  of  wealth;  faction, 
3 


34 


MONEY. 


revolutions,  wars,  crime,  will  produce  the  same 
effect.  So  also  will  those  social  arrangements 
which  prevent  the  outlay  of  capital,  by  with- 
holding proper  security  for  its  remuneration. 

After  the  rights  of  property  have  been  recog- 
nized, the  next  step  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth 
is  the  appropriation  of  the  soil.  It  has  been 
found  that  wherever  the  land  is  held  in  common, 
no  considerable  improvement  takes  place  in  the 
condition  of  the  people.  Tribes  who  depend  for 
their  subsistence  upon  the  earth’s  raw  produce, 
retain  the  same  savage  character  for  ages ; while 
those  who  settle  upon  and  cultivate  some  one 
spot  soon  become  civilized.  The  New-Englander 
enjoyed  no  advantages  over  the  aboriginal  tribes 
of  North  America ; the  climate  and  geographi- 
cal peculiarities  of  the  country  were  the  same  to 
all;  yet  while  our  Anglo-Saxon  brethren  have 
grown  in  two  centuries  to  the  proportions  of  a 
great  nation,  the  native  population  has  become 
all  but  extinct.  One  reason  of  this  is  obvious. 
The  Saxon  proceeded  at  once  to  a division  of  the 
land,  giving  every  man  a fixed  portion  to  possess 
and  cultivate,  while  the  Indian  still  retains  the 
nomadic  habits  of  his  ancestors.  A country 
whose  inhabitants  subsist  on  its  spontaneous  prod- 
uce, must  be  very  thinly  peopled.  This  single 
fact  is  full  of  gloomy  inferences.  Scarcely  any 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


35 


intercourse  can  take  place  among  such  a people ; 
the  very  law  of  their  existence  is  separation,  the 
presence  of  any  considerable  number  at  the  same 
spot  being  absolutely  forbidden  by  the  capacities 
of  the  soil.  Thus  forcibly  held  asunder,  they 
soon  become  positively  hostile  to  each  other ; 
strangers  to  the  cementing  influence  of  fellow- 
ship in  productive  industry,  they  resemble  two 
beasts  of  prey  contending  for  the  same  heap  of 
ofial.  But  these  evils  are  not  the  worst ; we 
discover  a truly  tragic  depth  of  misery  in  the 
necessity  which  exists  for  a constant  curtailment 
of  the  population,  so  as  to  keep  it  within  the 
limits  fixed  by  a scarcity  of  food,  for  it  is  well- 
rfemarked  by  Adam  Smith,  that  although  poverty 
tends,  in  the  first  instance,  to  multiply  rather 
than  • diminish  the  human  species,  yet  it  is  ex- 
tremely unfavorable  to  the  rearing  of  them  to 
maturity.  The  thinness  of  the  population  in  a 
poor  country  proves,  not  that  fewer  in  proportion 
are  born,  but  that  a greater  number  die. 

The  importance  of  the  appropriation  of  the 
soil,  considered  as  a step  in  social  progress, 
springs  from  the  fact  that  all  our  wealth  is  de- 
rived ultimately  from  this  source.  The  most 
necessary  articles  of  subsistence,  such  as  wheat, 
rice,  and  potatoes,  are  the  immediate  fruits  of 
agriculture.  Good  pasturage  is  necessary  to 


36 


MONEY. 


supply  US  with  milk,  cheese,  and  the  various 
kinds  of  animal  food.  We  should  soon  have  no 
skins,  no  leather,  no  woolen  clothing,  no  beasts 
of  burden,  if  there  were  no  vegetable  produce. 
Flax,  cotton,  tea,  coffee,  are  derived  from  the 
same  source,  and  without  the  mulberry-tree  the 
silk-worm  would  soon  perish.  The  most  splen- 
did furniture  with  which  our  drawing-rooms  are 
adorned,  may  he  traced  to  its  home  in  the  forest 
or  the  mine ; our  fairest  crystals  once  lay  hid 
in  the  obscurity  of  sand  and  it)ck.  Even  the 
treasures  of  genius,  themselves  drawn  from  a 
higher  source,  must  be  unhoarded  by  earthen 
instruments.  The  poet’s  pen  was  once  a goose’s 
quill,  the  artist’s  pencil  is  drawn  from  the  cam- 
el’s hide ; and  the  very  material  to  whose  care 
the  painter  consigns  his  imperishable  productions 
once  waved  in  the  cotton-fields  of  Georgia,  or 
gamboled  on  a sheep’s  back  among  sunshine 
and  flowers.  Imagine  these  varied  gifts  of  the 
earth  withdrawn,  and  how  wretched  would  our 
condition  become ! But  trace  them  to  their 
home,  and  we  find  them  all  springing  from  the 
application  of  labor  to  the  soil  under  the  law  of 
self-interest.  The  world’s  market  is  stocked 
with  wealth,  because  some  millions  of  land-own- 
ers find  it  profitable  to  develop  the  capabilities 
of  the  soil.  But  let  all  appropriation  cease,  and 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


37 


every  portion  of  it  be  as  much  the  property  of 
one  man  as  another,  and  all  activity  would  cease 
too ; we  should  sink  from  wealth  to  competence, 
from  competence  to  scarcity,  and  from  scarcity 
to  ruin. 

Next  to  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty, and  the  appropriation  of  the  soil,  the  most 
important  step  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth  is  the 
division  of  labor.  The  first  guarantees  the  en- 
joyment of  the  fruits  of  labor,  the  second  con- 
verts into  property  the  material  to  which  labor 
is  applied,  while  the  third  increases  the  produc- 
tiveness of  labor  itself.  Dr.  Adam  Smith  ascribes 
the  discovery  of  the  principle  of  divided  labor 
to  the  advantages  which  men  would  soon  expe- 
rience in  confining  their  attention  to  one  kind  of 
work.  Archbishop  Whately  objects  to  this 
view,  that  it  accounts  for  the  continued  applica- 
tion of  the  principle,  but  not  for  its  first  adop- 
tion, and  traces  the  arrangement  to  its  being 
found  that  many  operations  of  the  same  kind 
could  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time,  and  by 
the  same  means.  Thus  a person  who  had  occa- 
sion to  fetch  a bucket  of  water  from  the  spring 
could  carry  two  buckets  Avith  little  additional 
trouble,  A courier  between  two  towns  could 
convey  two  hundred  letters  almost  as  easily  as 
one.  If  a man  required  a few  wooden  pales  in 


38 


MONEY. 


order  to  fence  his  garden,  he  would  find  that 
when  the  tree  was  cut  down  and  severed  in  the 
required  lengths,  it  would  cost  him  comparative- 
ly little  more  trouble  to  supply  his  neighbor 
with  the  same  article.  Thus  the  principle  could 
not  fail  to  be  discovered  at  the  very  outset  of 
civilization,  and  when  once  discovered  it  was  too 
valuable  a boon  to  throw  away. 

The  increased  productiveness  of  labor  through 
the  distribution  of  its  various  branches  among  as 
many  different  workmen,  arises,  according  to 
Adam  Smith,  from  the  superior  dexterity  which 
a person  soon  acquires  when  he  confines  himself 
exclusively  to  one  set  of  operations,  from  the 
time  which  is  saved  by  keeping  to  the  same 
routine  of  work,  and  the  greater  inventiveness 
which  is  produced  by  directing  the  attention 
chiefly  to  one  department.  A single  pin  is 
valueless  to  a proverb,  yet  on  its  way  to  the 
toilet  it  passes  through  eighteen  distinct  proc- 
esses, each  of  which,  in  large  manufactories,  is 
a separate  branch  of  labor,  and  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction is  diminished  by  this  means  more  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  times.  The  vast  increase 
of  wealth  and  convenience  which  may  be  ascribed 
to  the  adoption  of  this  simple  principle  is  beyond 
conception.  If  the  reader  happens  to  be  a lady, 
will  she  reflect  a moment  upon  the  history  of 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  39 

the  material  which  sometimes  constitutes  her 
morning-dress?  That  fine  cotton  fabric  could 
only  have  been  produced  by  the  labor  of 
thousands.  How  many  were  employed  in  cul- 
tivating the  original  plant;  in  sowing,  tending, 
picking  it,  and  at  last  shipping  its  produce  to  the 
ports  of  Europe.  The  ship  which  brought  it 
over  the  Atlantic  is  itself  the  representative  of  a 
series  of  distinct  trades,  including  the  woodman, 
the  miner,  the  nailer,  the  carpenter,  the  rope- 
maker,  and  the  weaver.  From  the  merchant’s 
warehouse  to  the  draper’s  shop  how  many  meta- 
morphoses did  the  cotton  undergo?  Two  or 
three  preparatory  dressings,  as  many  sets  of 
spinners,  then  the  weaver,  bleacher,  and  calico- 
printer.  But  each  of  these  includes  in  itself  a 
crowd  of  distinct  professions.  What  a complica- 
tion of  contrivances  is  the  mechanism  employed, 
from  the  steam-engine  to  the  spinning- jenny,  the 
loom  and  the  printing-machine  ! What  a history 
might  be  written  on  the  various  chemical  proc- 
esses alone ; the  preparation  of  the  mordants, 
the  procuring  of  the  drugs,  and  the  mixing  of 
the  colors  ! How  many  designers  are  employed 
to  sketch  those  elegant  patterns  which  often 
hold  the  fair  purchaser  in  suspense  between 
equal  beauties,  and  how  much  skilled  labor  is  re- 
quired to  transfer  those  patterns  to  the  wooden- 


40 


MONEY. 


block  or  the  copper-roller,  before  they  can  be 
stamped  upon  the  cloth ! A curious  instance  of 
the  numerous  processes  required  to  bring  to 
perfection  some  articles  of  mere  luxury  is  found 
in  the  history  of  the  more  expensive  kinds  of 
tobacco-pipes.  The  material  itself,  which  is  called 
ecume  de  mer,  is  a kind  of  fuller’s  earth  fi’om  the 
south  of  Crim  Tartary.  The  first  rude  shape  is 
given  to  the  pipes  on  the  ground  where  the  ma- 
terial is  first  dug,  by  pressing  them  into  a mold, 
and  leaving  them  to  harden  in  the  sun.  They 
are  then  baked  in  an  oven,  boiled  in  milk,  and 
rubbed  with  soft  leather.  In  this  state  they  are 
taken  to  Constantinople,  where  they  are  bought 
by  merchants,  and  sent  in  caravans  to  Pesh,  in 
Hungary.  They  are  then  soaked  for  twenty- 
four  hours  in  water,  after  which  they  are  turned 
upon  a lathe.  From  Pesh  they  are  taken  to 
Vienna,  whence  they  are  distributed  through  the 
markets  of  Germany. 

If  a person  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  only  one  grew  before,  adds  to  the 
riches  of  mankind,  how  large  an  accession  of 
wealth  is  due  to  an  arrangement  which  makes 
labor  many  hundred  times  more  productive  than 
it  would  have  been  without  it ! That  this  ar- 
rangement does  increase  the  productiveness  of 
labor  is  unquestionable.  If  every  man  had  to 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


41 


make  his  own  clothes,  graze  his  own  cattle,  kill 
his  own  meat,  how  heavy  and  slow  would  be  the 
progress  of  society!  We  do  that  best  and 
quickest  which  we  do  oftenest.  But  not  only  is 
increased  facility  the  result  of  the  division  of 
labor ; by  concentrating  our  attention  on  one 
process  we  discern  more  easily  new  and  better 
ways  of  doing  it.  Hence  the  use  of  machinery 
may  be  ascribed  to  the  same  principle.  Let  no 
one  think  otherwise  of  this  than  of  a great  bless- 
ing ; so  long  as  it  is  not  labor  that  man  wants, 
but  the  fruits  of  labor,  whatever  increases  the 
productiveness  of  labor  must  be  a benefit  to 
mankind,  since  it  must  tend  either  to  multiply 
their  comforts  or  diminish  their  toil.  An  objec- 
tion has  been  urged  against  the  division  of  labor 
that,  by  simplifying  the  work  of  the  operative, 
it  makes  him  a mere  machine,  and  weakens  his 
intellectual  powers  by  not  calling  them  into 
exercise.  In  our  opinion  such  an  objection  is 
groundless.  We  may  rest  assured  that  the  mind 
will  always  find  something  to  do.  The  simpler 
the  work  on  which  a man  is  employed,  the  more 
freely  may  he  allow  his  mind  to  revert  to  other 
and  more  pleasing  topics,  and  the  greater  the 
mental  elasticity  he  will  carry  into  his  leisure 
hours.  A person  whose  sole  employment  during 
twelve  hours  has  been  to  see  that  a machine 


42 


MONEY. 


does  its  work  properly,  must  be  in  a far  better 
condition  for  spending  an  hour  at  night  over 
some  bracing  book  than  if  he  had  performed 
that  work  himself.  Besides,  there  can  be  no 
antagonism  between  good  tendencies.  If  the 
instrument  to  which  we  are  mainly  indebted  for 
our  social  comforts  becomes,  in  proportion  to  its 
perfectness,  the  means  of  intellectual  annihila- 
tion to  those  who  employ  it,  where  would  be 
the  wisdom  of  the  social  architect  ? But  expe- 
rience confutes  the  objection.  We  venture  to 
say  that  there  is  not  a more  intelligent  body  of 
operatives  in  the  world  than  that  part  of  the 
population  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  which  is 
engaged  in  the  cotton  and  woolen  manufactures ; 
while  farm -laborers,  whose  occupations  exem- 
plify, on  the  authority  of  Adam  Smith,  the  divi- 
sion of  labor  to  the  least  possible  extent,  have 
always  been  reckoned  to  be,  as  a body,  inferior 
in  point  of  mental  activity  to  the  mechanics  of 
our  large  towns.  Should  it  be  said  that  this 
superiority  is  owing,  not  to  the  division  of  labor, 
but  to  the  better  opportunities  of  mental  culture 
afforded  in  our  large  towns,  we  reply  that  large 
towns  themselves,  with  their  numberless  ap- 
pliances of  civilization,  are  the  offspring  of  this 
very  principle,  and  that  we  find  here  an  addi- 
tional proof  that  the  conditions  of  wealth  and 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


43 


popular  intelligence  are  not  opposed,  but  are  in- 
variably and  indissolubly  one. 

The  division  of  labor  leads  at  once  to  exchange. 
When  every  person  provided  in  the  best  way  he 
could  for  his  own  wants,  he  had  no  occasion  to 
barter  with  his  neighbor.  His  condition  might 
not  be  one  of  comfort,  but  it  was  at  least  one  of 
independence.  As  soon,  however,  as  each  con- 
fined himself  to  one  department  of  labor,  his 
independence  was  at  an  end.  Yery  few  of  his 
personal  wants  could  be  supplied  by  his  own 
exertions,  and  for  the  rest  he  would  have  to  seek 
the  cooperation  of  others.  The  smith,  for  in- 
stance, who  worked  all  day  long  at  his  forge, 
would  make  many  more  nails  than  he  would  re- 
quire for  his  own  use,  but  he  would  stand  in 
need  of  food  and  clothing — articles  which  could 
not  be  produced  within  the  walls  of  his  smithy. 
The  farmer,  the  butcher,  the  grocer,  would  each 
find  himself  in  a similar  position ; they  would 
respectively  have  more  grain,  more  meat,  and 
more  sugar  than  they  would  be  able  to  consume 
themselves,  while  each  would  stand  in  need  of 
what  the  others  could  supply.  In  these  circum- 
stances exchange  would  naturally  take  place. 
This  process,  however,  is  merely  a matter  of 
convenience.  It  does  not  increase  the  aggregate 
results  of  labor ; it  simply  aflfects  their  ownership, 


44 


MONEY. 


but  at  the  same  time  it  develops  a new  prin- 
ciple whi:h  occasions  a positive  increase  of 
wealth.  It  is  plain  that,  since  all  wealth  is  the 
produce  of  labor,  the  productiveness  of  labor  is 
just  the  measure  of  wealth,  and  whatever  insures 
that  labor  shall  always  be  expended  so  as  to  be 
most  productive  must  be  a valuable  aid  to  social 
progress.  This  useful  principle  is  competition. 
This  principle,  though  acting  with  the  greatest 
force  in  the  most  civilized  communities,  must 
have  exerted  a powerful  influence  even  in  the 
earliest  times.  Things  soon  began  to  be  dis- 
tinguished as  cheap  or  dear,  and  traders  in- 
stinctively exercised  their  prerogative  of  carry- 
ing their  commodities  where  they  would  fetch 
the  most.  If  it  were  not  for  this  wholesome 
check,  no  prudential  obligations  would  lie  upon 
the  producer.  He  might  turn  his  attention  to 
pursuits  for  which  he  had  no  natural  aptitude ; 
he  would  have  no  powerful  motive  to  economy, 
industry,  and  self- culture ; secure  of  a market, 
whatever  the  quality  or  the  amount  of  his  own 
exertions,  he  would  soon  become  careless  and 
inactive.  On  such  a system  we  should  have  no 
guarantee  that  society  put  forth  one-half  its 
energies,  or  that  the  energy  it  actually  put  forth 
was  not  wasted  by  being  misapplied.  Compe- 
tition renders  these  evils  impossible.  Its  ten- 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  45 

dency  is  twofold — to  force  both  individuals  and 
nations  into  those  departments  of  effort  for  which 
they  are  most  fitted,  and  to  compel  them  to  put 
forth  the  largest  possible  amount  of  skill  and 
labor.  Such  coercion  may  not  be  altogether 
pleasant,  but  it  is  salutary ; as  much  so  for  the 
individual  as  for  the  state. 

A crusade  has  been  waged  for  some  time 
past,  with  a considerable  measure  of  popular 
applause,  against  the  principle  of  competition, 
and  clamorous  demands  are  made  for  its  exclu- 
sion from  the  social  code.  No  doubt  competition 
is  a principle  which  requires  to  be  regulated  by 
Christian  maxims ; but  we  must  demur  to  the 
propriety  or  even  the  possibility  of  complying 
with  the  above  demand.  The  most  direct  way 
of  acceding  to  it  would  be  to  fix  the  lowest 
price  at  which  articles  shall  be  sold ; but  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  such  a step  ? It  would 
certainly  enable  the  imprudent  or  inferior  trades- 
man to  sell  his  goods  at  more  than  their  natural 
price,  but  the  difference  would  be  so  much  ab- 
stracted from  the  pocket  of  the  purchaser.  Not 
only  would  he  have  to  pay  more,  but  the  extra 
price  would  indicate  a corresponding  amount  of 
clear  loss  in  the  aggregate  amount  of  social 
wealth,  inasmuch  as  fewer  inducements  would 
be  held  out  to  ingenuity  and  effort.  If  such  an 


46 


MONEY. 


arrangement  were  adopted  in  one  trade,  it  ought 
to  be  allowed  in  all.  The  most  incompetent 
craftsman  ought  to  be  allowed  the  privilege  of 
fixing  the  exchangeable  value  of  his  productions. 
But  it  is  plain  that  this  would  be  a system  of 
virtual  pauperism,  and  that  society  would  thus 
inflict  upon  itself  a huge  tax  on  behalf  of  those 
who  least  deserved  such  a boon. 

But  instead  of  fixing  the  price  of  commodities, 
a more  complicated  expedient  has  been  proposed. 
It  has  been  suggested  that,  instead  of  each  en- 
deavoring to  surpass  the  rest,  all  should  work  in 
common,  contributing  to,  and  drawing  upon,  a 
common  fund.  This  is  pure  socialism,  the  prin- 
ciples of  which  we  have  before  noticed,  and  lit- 
tle danger  need  be  apprehended  from  such  a 
source.  The  principle  which  is  now  opposed  to 
competition  is  cooperation,  and  to  this  our  re- 
marks will  be  confined.  The  cooperative  theory, 
if  we  may  judge  from  recent  experiments,  is  al- 
together distinct  from  socialism,  and  ought  not 
to  assume  the  same  name.  A number  of  indi- 
viduals belonging  to  a common  profession  agree 
to  raise  money  among  themselves,  or  on  mutual 
credit,  with  a view  to  engage  in  business  on  their 
own  account.  Such  an  association  may  be  some- 
what novel  in  its  aim,  but  the  principle  on  which 
it  is  founded  has  been  carried  out  in  numberless 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  47 

instances  by  individuals  who  would  have  repudi- 
ated any  approximation  to  socialism.  It  is,  in 
fact,  a joint-stock  company,  the  members  of 
which  agree  to  work  themselves,  and  so  secure 
double  profits.  It  is  a mistake,  however,  to 
speak  of  cooperation  and  competition  as  things 
opposed.  Competition  is  thoroughly  coopera- 
tive, and  the  success  of  cooperation  depends 
upon  its  being  thoroughly  competitive.  A firm 
composed  of  fifty  partners  acts  as  much  on  the 
principle  of  competition  as  if  there  were  only 
two.  Among  themselves  they  are  cooperative, 
but  the  point  at  which  they  dovetail  with  socie- 
ty is  and  must  be  competitive.  If,  therefore, 
society  can  be  rescued  from  its  miseries  only  by 
putting  down  competition,  it  is  evident  that  co- 
operative associations  do  not  touch  the  case. 

To  cooperative  associations  thus  simply  con- 
stituted, and  resting  for  success  entirely  upon 
the  excellence  and  cheapness  of  their  produc- 
tions, no  objection,  as  far  as  principle  is  con- 
cerned, can  be  preferred.  The  chief  effect  of 
such  associations  would  be  to  add  so  many  more 
to  the  existing  number  of  competitors,  and  thus 
increase  the  severity  of  competition.  But  one 
all-important  question  yet  remains, — Will  they 
answer  ? The  prudential  test  is  the  only  one 
which  can  be  properly  applied ; but  this,  we  fear. 


48 


MONEY. 


must  prove  decisive.  Destitute  of  special  privi- 
leges, forced  to  obey  the  inexorable  laws  of  po- 
litical economy,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how 
they  can  succeed,  considering  the  peculiar  per- 
ils to  which  they  are  exposed.  Either  the  adop- 
tion of  a too  popular  basis  will  prevent  business 
being  transacted  with  the  requisite  measure  of 
rapidity  and  precision,  or  else  the  entire  concern 
will  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  a few  individuals, 
in  which  case  it  will  insensibly  slide  into  their 
own  hands.  If  we  may  take  one  with  which 
we  were  to  some  extent  personally  acquainted 
as  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  all  are 
carried  on,  our  hopes  of  their  success  would  be 
far  from  sanguine.  Every  question  was  there 
settled  by  ‘‘  universal  suffrage,” — a principle 
which,  whatever  it  may  be  in  politics,  is  obvious- 
ly inapplicable  to  business.  Not  a farthing  was 
disposed  of  without  putting  it  to  the  test  of  a 
lengthy  discussion  ; and  very  often,  before  the 
members  determined  what  course  to  take,  the 
time  for  action  had  gone  by.  It  was  also  pain- 
ful to  mark  a jealousy  of  superior  abilities,  and 
a preference,  in  making  official  appointments,  for 
men  whom  the  rest  could  easily  ‘^manage,”  rath- 
er than  those  whose  talents  would  be  likely  to 
insure  success.  Those  members  of  the  society 
whose  intellects  were  not  the  brightest,  were  apt 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH.  49 

to  imagine  that  a plot  lay  hid  beneath  every 
proposal  they  could  not  comprehend ; yet  still, 
tenacious  of  their  rights  as  partners,  they  were 
determined  that  no  measure  should  be  adopted 
which  did  not  force  their  assent,  and  thus  they 
became  a mere  set  of  obstructives.”  An  in- 
telligent and  highly-skilled  mechanic,  who  once 
belonged  to  the  association  adverted  to,  assured 
us  that  if  his  own  business  were  carried  out  on 
the  same  principles,  it  would  not  be  worth  a 
shilling  in  six  months. 

The  last  step  in  the  progress  of  wealth  is  in- 
ternational commerce.  The  immediate  occasion 
of  this  is  found  in  the  difference  which  exists 
between  the  productions  of  various  climes,  and 
their  general  suitableness  to  the  use  of  man. 
Perhaps  no  two  soils  can  be  found  which,  in  re- 
turn for  the  same  amount  of  labor,  bring  forth 
the  same  article  in  the  same  degree  of  perfec- 
tion. Countries  consisting  of  low  alluvial  plains 
find  pasturage  most  profitable  ; those  which  en- 
joy a dry  soil  and  clear  atmosphere  abound  in 
grain.  Some  situations  are  peculiarly  favorable 
to  the  vine ; others  to  flax,  cotton,  or  the  sugar- 
cane ; while  others,  owing  to  their  mineral  treas- 
ures and  peculiar  geographical  advantages,  are 
most  suited  to  manufactures.  While  the  produc- 
tions of  different  nations  are  so  various,  all  men 
4 


50 


MONEY. 


have  nearly  the  same  wants.  The  tea  which 
pleases  the  Chinaman  is  a luxury  in  Britain; 
while  British  cutlery,  earthenware,  and  textile 
produce  find  a ready  market  in  any  part  of  the 
earth.  Providence  seems  by  this  arrangement 
to  have  provided  for  the  friendly  intercourse  of 
mankind,  and  in  proportion  as  it  has  been  recog- 
nized and  carried  out  have  the  best  interests  of 
mankind  been  promoted.  The  tendency  of  com- 
merce is  to  diminish  the  frequency  of  war,  and, 
next  to  the  special  influences  of  the  gospel,  is 
the  most  powerful  agent  in  the  work  of  civilizing 
the  globe. 

The  pecuniary  advantages  of  commerce  con- 
sist in  its  enabling  us  to  exchange  articles  which 
cost  us  little  labor  for  others  which,  though  per- 
haps equally  inexpensive  in  the  country  where 
they  were  produced,  would  require  here  a much 
larger  outlay ; and  when  two  nations  mutually 
exchange  their  cheapest  productions  for  those 
which,  if  produced  at  home,  would  be  the  dear- 
est, the  greatest  possible  addition  is  made  in  that 
instance  to  the  wealth  of  the  world.  This  state- 
ment admits  of  a simple  illustration.  It  is  well 
known  that  oranges  are  imported  in  large  quan- 
tities into  England  from  Spain  and  Portugal ; 
but  it  is  not  impossible  to  grow  oranges  here  at 
home.  By  special  care  they  may  readily  be  pro- 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


51 


duced  in  hot-houses,  as  the  gardens  of  our  no- 
bility attest ; but  as  they  cannot  be  produced  at 
nearly  so  low  a rate  as  that  at  which  they  can 
be  imported,  their  domestic  cultivation  is  con- 
fined to  the  purposes  of  horticultural  science. 
If  they  could  not  be  produced  at  home  for  less 
than  twopence  a piece,  while  at  Seville  they 
could  be  purchased  for  a halfpenny,  and  the  ex- 
pense of  their  carriage  would  not  be  more  than 
their  original  cost,  it  is  evident  that  by  going  to 
a foreign  market  we  should  effect  a saving  to 
the  amount  of  one-half.  If  we  had  previously 
expended  half  a million  annually  in  the  growth 
of  oranges,  we  should,  by  turning  importers,  save 
£250,000,  and  should  be  richer  to  precisely  that 
amount.  But  it  may  happen  that  at  Seville, 
while  oranges  are  cheap,  cotton  cloth  is  dear. 
By  manufacturing  the  article  at  home  it  might 
cost  them  twenty  shillings  a-piece,  while  we 
could  afford  to  let  them  have  it  for  one-fourth 
of  that  sum.  Hence,  instead  of  receiving  pay- 
ment for  their  oranges  in  money,  they  would  find 
it  more  advantageous  to  take  the  amount  in 
goods  of  that  description.  These  might  be  sold 
in  Seville  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  cheaper  than 
the  home  manufacture,  and  would  involve  a clear 
saving  of  one-half  their  annual  outlay  in  cotton 
goods.  Thus,  in  commerce,  both  parties  are 


52 


MONEY. 


benefited,  and  their  joint  profits  represent  the 
clear  increase  which  it  contributes  to  the  aggre- 
gate wealth  of  mankind. 

From  the  very  earliest  times  it  has  been  the 
practice  of  nations  to  exchange  with  each  other. 
The  silver  with  which  Abraham  bought  the  field 
and  cave  of  Machpelah  is  called  ‘‘  current  money 
of  the  merchant and  the  Ishmaelites,  to  whom 
Joseph  was  sold,  were  carrying  spices  into  Egypt. 
As  exchange  is  mutually  profitable,  separation  is 
the  chief  hindrance  to  commerce,  and  hence 
camels  and  ships  were  always  its  efficient  pro- 
moters, the  former  bridging  the  desert,  and 
the  latter  the  sea.  The  Phcenicians  were  the 
navigators  and  merchants  of  the  old  world ; they 
were  carriers  and  barterers  for  all  nations.  Tyre 
and  Sidon  were  flourishing  commercial  cities  in 
the  time  of  Solomon,  and  both  seem  to  have 
engaged  with  that  monarch  in  several  commercial 
enterprises.  The  celebrated  Tadmor,  whose  ruins 
still  prolong  something  of  its  former  magnifi- 
cence, was  probably  built  with  the  view  of  pro- 
moting the  caravan-trade  between  Palestine  and 
the  Persian  Gulf.  From  Eziongeber,  a port  on 
the  Red  Sea,  a fleet,  conducted  by  Syrian  navi- 
gators, sailed  to  Ophir  and  Tarshish,  and  brought 
back  to  Solomon  and  the  king  of  Tyre  apes, 
ivory,  peacocks,  and  gold.  It  is  thought  that 


HOW  SOCIETY  GETS  RICH. 


53 


the  Hebrew  term  hedil,  in  the  book  of  Numbers, 
should  be  rendered  tin.  The  brass’’  which 
was  employed  in  making  the  utensils  of  Solo- 
mon’s temple,  like  that  which  was  extensively 
used  among  the  Greeks,  was  in  reality  bronze, 
or  a mixture  of  iron  and  tin ; but  this  latter 
metal  the  ancients  obtained  exclusively  from 
Spain  or  the  British  Isles.  The  Romans  were 
never  a mercantile  people,  and  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Alexandria,  no  city  appears  to  have  risen 
to  special  commercial  eminence,  till  Venice  rose 
amidst  the  waters  of  the  Adriatic.  The  Crusades 
stimulated  the  desire  for  intercourse  with  the  east, 
and  poured  a golden  tide  into  the  coffers  of  the 
wary  merchants  of  St.  Mark.  Then,  as  in  olden 
times,  the  treasures  of  India  were  brought  to  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  from  whence  they 
were  carried  by  the  Venetian  ships  to  the  various 
markets  of  Western  Europe.  The  discovery  of 
America  in  the  fifteenth  century  opened  a new 
field  for  commercial  enterprise ; and  the  discovery 
of  the  route  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
transferred  for  a time  the  commercial  scepter  to 
the  Portuguese.  On  the  emancipation  of  the 
Netherlands  from  the  Spanish  yoke,  the  flame 
of  commercial  enterprise  burst  forth  in  the  United 
Provinces.  The  Dutch  flag  waved  on  the  shores 
of  Africa,  Asia,  and  the  new  world,  but  in  its 


54 


MONET. 


turn  drooped  before  that  of  England.  England 
has  long  been  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the 
globe  ; her  ships  are  carriers  for  the  world ; her 
manufacturing  energy,  seeking  an  outlet  for 
itself,  has  opened  channels  of  intercourse  with 
the  most  distant  and  barbarous  lands.  But  the 
English  would  not  wish,  if  it  were  possible,  to  be 
alone  in  this  magnificent  work.  Their  brethren 
of  the  United  States,  true  to  their  origin,  and 
backed  by  natural  resources,  in  some  respects 
superior  to  those  of  Britain,  will  soon  be  by  their 
side.  Let  both  welcome  each  other  to  the  post 
of  honor,  and  inscribe  on  the  flag  which  they 
jointly  bear  in  the  van  of  the  world’s  progress — 

‘‘  One INDISSOLUBLY  ONE IN  JUSTICE  AND  LOVE 

FOREVER.” 


CHAPTER  HI. 

THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY : A FEW  WORDS  ABOUT 
CAPITAL. 

We  have  considered  in  their  natural  order  of 
development  the  various  steps  which  lead  to  the 
acquisition  of  wealth : we  now  proceed  to  con- 
sider the  same  subject  in  another  and  still  more 
interesting  point  of  view ; with  regard,  namely. 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


65 


to  the  two  coefficients  which  always  concur  in 
its  production.  Capital  and  labor  may  be  re- 
garded as  twin  powers,  born  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, gifted  with  the  same  length  of  existence, 
fitted  to  accomplish  in  concert  what  neither  could 
possibly  accomplish  by  itself.  So  far  from  being 
opposed,  they  are  necessarily  cooperative,  and 
whatever  fluctuations  await  them  in  society,  they 
must  live  or  die  together.  Labor  is  the  parent 
of  capital,  and  capital  is  the  soul  of  labor.  De- 
stroy either,  and  the  acquisition  of  wealth  be- 
comes a vanishing  dream. 

1.  What  is  capital  ? We  will  suppose  a num- 
ber of  persons  intent  upon  reclaiming  fifty  or 
sixty  acres  of  that  boggy  land  which  abounds  in 
the  west  of  Ireland.  The  task  we  shall  suppose 
is  considered  practicable.  Appropriate  manures 
are  abundant  and  within  easy  reach.  A certain 
method  of  procedure  will  assuredly  bring  this 
wet  and  rotten  soil  into  a condition  fit  for  bear- 
ing the  best  produce.  But  twelve  months 
must  pass  away  before  any  results  can  be  ob- 
tained, and  several  years  before  the  projectors’ 
expectations  can  be  fully  realized.  How,  then, 
shall  the  laborers  be  sustained  in  the  meantime  ? 
Their  families  will  daily  need  food  and  clothing, 
they  themselves  will  require  tools  to  work  with, 
as  well  as  horses  and  carts  for  the  conveyance 


56 


MONEY. 


of  soil.  The  ground,  as  it  is  reclaimed,  must  be 
fenced  off,  and  superfluous  moisture  carried  away 
by  means  of  drainage.  It  is  certain  that,  how 
profitable  soever  the  enterprise  might  prove,  un- 
til these  resources  are  provided  from  some  quar- 
ter, it  cannot  possibly  be  undertaken.  Laborers 
may  offer  themselves  by  thousands,  some  such 
employment  may  be  their  only  refuge  from  ab- 
solute starvation ; but  the  condition  is  imperative 
— some  person  must  find  them  implements  and 
food ; deny  this  and  they  may  perish  in  the 
midst  of  natural  affluence.  The  necessity  for 
capital  is  still  more  evident  in  the  case  of  manu- 
factures, since  here  it  is  requisite  to  provide 
materials  as  well  as  tools  and  sustenance.  To- 
morrow morning  a hundred  thousand  persons  will 
proceed  to  the  factories  of  Manchester ; but  what 
would  they  do  if,  on  reaching  their  respective 
places  of  employment,  they  found  no  employer 
to  receive  them,  no  materials,  no  machines,  no 
workshops  ? Perhaps  their  first  impulse  would 
be  to  commence  working  for  themselves ; but 
how  many  obstacles  would  rise  in  opposition  to 
this  design  ! Factories  must  be  erected,  mate- 
rials purchased,  and  costly  machines  set  up. 
When  their  ingenuity  and  labor  had  converted 
these  raw  materials  into  useful  articles,  they 
would  be  no  nearer  the  end  of  their  exertions 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


51 


till  money  or  other  commodities  had  been  pro- 
cured in  exchange.  Even  this  might  not  prove 
a very  easy  matter.  No  doubt  articles  of  real 
utility  may  generally  be  sold  at  some  price,  but 
there  are  seasons  when  this  price  would  do  no 
more  than  defray  the  cost  of  material,  if  it  did 
even  that,  leaving  nothing  for  the  laborer ; and 
goods,  if  they  are  to  remunerate  the  owner, 
must  be  kept  back  to  await  a higher  demand. 
Hence  labor  is  useless  without  some  fund  out 
of  which  the  laborer  can  be  provided  with  tools 
and  materials,  as  well  as  sustenance  for  himself 
and  family,  till  his  labor  has  actually  become 
productive ; and  everything  which  furnishes  those 
resources,  everything  which  is  employed  in  set- 
ting the  laborer  to  work,  whether  it  is  fixed  in 
buildings  and  machinery,  or  fioating  in  the  shape 
of  money  between  manufacturer  and  merchant, 
master  and  man,  is  called  capital. 

2.  Let  us  now  ask.  How  is  capital  produced  ? 
The  original  source  to  which  the  production  of 
capital  must  be  ascribed,  is  the  liberal  return 
which,  in  the  arrangements  of  our  Creator,  the 
earth  makes  to  any  one  who  bestows  labor  upon 
it.  Referring  to  the  illustration  already  adduced, 
if  the  produce  of  fifty  acres,  which  we  supposed 
a number  of  persons  to  be  bent  upon  reclaiming 
from  the  bogs  of  Ireland,  was  only  sufiScient  to 


58 


MONEY. 


replace,  without  surplus,  what  had  actually  been 
expended  in  raising  it,  those  persons  would 
necessarily  be  obliged  to  confine  their  efforts  to 
the  quantity  of  land  at  first  inclosed.  Twelve 
months’  produce  being  only  able  to  keep  them 
during  an  equal  period,  they  would  live,  to  use 
an  expressive  saying,  from  hand  to  mouth,  with 
nothing  to  spare.  If  this  had  been  the  case 
universally,  not  only  could  mankind  never  have 
grown  rich,  but,  if  the  present  laws  which  regu- 
late the  increase  of  the  human  race  had  been  in 
force,  they  must  always  have  pined  in  misery, 
since  there  never  could  have  been  any  surplus 
on  which  to  maintain  families,  or  maintain  the 
laborer  till  his  labor  became  remunerative.  But 
Providence  has  ordained  a very  diflferent  state 
of  things.  The  produce  of  fifty  acres  is  found 
sufficient  not  only  to  cover  the  cost  of  production, 
but  to  furnish  a wide  margin  of  profits.  The 
Irish  cultivators  would  find  themselves  at  the 
year’s  end  not  only  repaid  for  the  money  which 
had  been  expended  on  food,  clothing,  and  im- 
plements, but  possessed  of  a considerable  quan- 
tity of  commodities  to  be  disposed  of  as  they 
saw  fit.  They  might  now  look  beyond  their  fifty 
acres ; having  saved  enough  to  support  several 
additional  laborers  during  the  next  twelve  months, 
they  might  inclose  a larger  plot  of  ground, 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY.  59 

of  which,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  they  would 
naturally  possess  the  profits.  It  is  plain  that  no 
limits  need  be  set  to  such  a process  but  those 
which  spring  from  the  capabilities  of  the  soil. 
They  might  go  on,  bringing  district  after  district 
into  cultivation,  until  their  farms  inclosed  all  the 
waste  land  in  the  country.  The  annual  surplus 
might  then  be  turned  into  other  channels,  em- 
ployed in  shipping,  mining,  manufactures,  or  any 
other  remunerative  pursuit,  the  aggregate  amount 
always  increasing,  and  its  capacities  accordingly 
always  becoming  greater.  All  existing  capital 
arose  in  this  manner.  It  was  at  one  time  or 
other  saved  out  of  the  results  of  labor  and  pre- 
vious capital,  and  the  earliest  capital  was  that 
which  God  provided  in  the  spontaneous  produc- 
tions of  the  earth  which  sustained  a sparse  popu- 
lation during  the  first  operations  of  agriculture. 

Capital  thus  springs  originally  from  the  pro- 
lific abundance  of  the  earth’s  natural  resources 
— from  the  goodness  of  the  Creator,  who  has 
ordained  that  wherever  man  puts  forth  his  five 
talents  they  shall  presently  be  increased  to  ten. 
It  is  useful,  however,  to  regard  it  as  savings,  as 
the  excess  of  income  beyond  expenditure,  since 
the  production  of  capital  is  thus  exhibited  in  con- 
nection with  our  own  personal  efforts.  When, 
in  a primitive  state  of  society,  the  husbandman, 


60 


MONEY. 


after  replacing  the  com  and  clothing  required 
while  awaiting  the  harvest,  found  sufficient  grain 
in  his  store-house  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
coming  season,  he  had  so  much  capital ; and  if 
the  mechanic  who  receives  twenty  shillings  weekly 
manages  to  put  by  two  shillings  out  of  that  sum, 
he  adds  by  so  much  to  the  national  capital ; his 
weekly  savings  increase  the  fund  which  can  be 
employed  in  the  remuneration  of  labor.  Every 
properly  economical  act  has  the  same  tendency. 
Every  farthing  legitimately  rescued  from  expen- 
diture helps  to  provide  a fund  from  which  may 
be  drawn  the  means  of  more  largely  increasing 
trade,  and  raising  the  demand  for  labor ; and 
money,  however  invested,  whether  in  building- 
clubs,  freehold  land  societies,  an  insurance 
office,  or  the  savings’  bank,  becomes  an  efficient 
servant  to  the  commonwealth.  Those  institutions 
do  not  suffer  it  to  lie  idle ; it  is  at  once  put  out 
to  the  most  profitable  use — that  in  which  it  will, 
in  its  turn,  yield  the  largest  increase  to  existing 
capital. 

3.  We  have  seen  that  capital  thus  produced 
has  a natural  tendency  to  accumulate ; let  us 
glance  at  the  chief  circumstances  which  favor  or 
retard  its  accumulation.  One  point  most  essen- 
tial to  the  accumulation  of  capital  is  the  supply 
of  cheap  materials.  Other  things  being  equal,  a 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


61 


countiy  where  the  raw  staple  of  manufactures  is 
most  abundant  must  beat  its  neighbors  in  the 
chase  of  wealth.  It  seldom  happens,  however, 
that  this  equality  exists.  We  see  here  one  of 
the  many  proofs  of  a harmony  of  interests  per- 
vading the  entire  conditions  of  humanity.  Raw 
materials  being  generally  the  products  of  agri- 
culture, are  cheapest  in  a country  but  thinly 
populated.  There,  however,  skilled  labor  is  the 
dearest.  In  a populous  country,  on  the  other 
hand,  labor  is  comparatively  cheap,  but  raw 
materials  are  dear.  Thus,  in  the  United  States 
cotton  must  be  cheaper  by  the  cost  of  carriage 
than  it  is  at  Liverpool ; but  the  superior  cheap- 
ness of  labor  in  England  nevertheless  enables 
that  country  to  manufacture  cotton  goods  at  less 
cost  than  the  Americans. 

Equal  in  importance  with  cheap  material  is 
the  natural  price  of  labor — that  price  which  capi- 
tal can  afford  to  pay  and  yet  remain  profitable. 
This  price  is  regulated  by  laws  as  fixed  as  those 
which  determine  the  relation  of  electricity  and 
thunder,  or  the  flow  and  ebb  of  the  tides.  La- 
bor, like  every  other  commodity,  like  capital 
itself,  finds  its  own  level.  Any  attempt,  by  arti- 
ficial means,  to  raise  it  above  that  point,  is  as 
unwise  as  to  resolve  that  water  shall  not  freeze 
when  its  temperature  sinks  below  freezing-point. 


62 


MONEY. 


When  wages  can  ascend  above  any  given  rate, 
they  necessarily  will  ascend  above  it,  and  the  at- 
tempts to  prevent  this  would  be  as  futile  as  to 
stop  the  progress  of  the  tides.  Strikes  are  not 
necessary  to  ascertain  the  proper  price  of  labor. 
When  capital  can  afford  higher  wages,  it  soon 
becomes  its  interest  to  offer  them.  It  would, 
too,  be  well  if  the  forcible  measures  which  are 
frequently  put  in  operation  to  raise  wages  were 
simply  unsuccessful ; but  in  proportion  as  they 
are  persevered  in  they  cripple  capital,  they  di- 
minish the  only  fund  which  can  pay  wages,  and 
the  entire  carrying  out  of  the  theory  on  which 
they  are  based  would  consummate  the  ruin  of 
trade  and  the  commercial  downfall  of  the  coun- 
try. National  prosperity  is  not  guaranteed  by 
any  special  law.  No  two  petty  shop-keepers  in 
a country  village  are  more  thoroughly  competi- 
tive in  their  mutual  relations  than,  for  example, 
England  and  the  United  States. 

O 

Facilities  of  cheap  and  rapid  intercourse  are 
an  important  auxiliary  to  the  growth  of  capital. 
The  goods  of  a manufactimer,  except  the  very 
small  portion  he  may  retain  for  his  own  use,  are 
only  valuable  as  they  can  find  a market,  and  the 
expense  of  sending  them  to  market  must  be 
reckoned  into  the  cost  of  production.  Cartage 
forms  a familiar  item  of  expense  in  building 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


63 


operations,  and  every  farmer  reckons  that  the 
virtual  price  of  manure  depends  upon  the  dis- 
^tance  he  may  have  to  send  for  it.  In  some 
countries  the  want  of  roads  presents  insuperable 
barriers  to  commerce.  The  interior  of  Mexico, 
for  instance,  abounds  in  vegetable  produce,  which 
would  find  a ready  sale  for  exportation  if  it 
could  only  be  brought  down  to  the  coast ; but 
such  are  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  inland 
communication,  that  the  price  of  wheat  is  often 
found  to  be  doubled  within  the  compass  of  a few 
miles.  The  principal  obstacle  to  the  cultivation 
of  cotton  in  India  is  the  want  of  cheap  and  easy 
modes  of  conveyance.  In  bringing  it  over  the 
vast  plains  of  Hindostan,  so  large  an  addition 
would  be  made  to  its  original  cost,  as  to  leave 
no  chances  of  its  competing  successfully  with  that 
which  we  import  from  th§  United  States.  The 
immense  sums  invested  in  highways,  canals,  and 
railroads,  present  in  a very  striking  light  the  ex- 
pensiveness of  carriage.  At  the  close  of  1850 
there  were  six  thousand  three  hundred  miles  of 
railway  in  operation  in  Great  Britain,  which  had 
been  executed  at  an  average  cost  of  $200,000 
per  mile,  involving  a total  expenditure  of  $1,250,- 
000,000.  The  railway  receipts  for  the  year  1851 
amounted  to  $75,000,000,  a great  part  of  which 
was  spent  in  merely  changing  the  localities  of 


64 


MONEY. 


things,  without  adding  anything  to  their  intrinsic 
value.  We  see  here  the  immense  advantage  of 
cheap  intercourse.  An  arrangement  which  would 
diminish  the  expense  of  carriage  one-half,  would 
add  from  one  source  alone  between  seven  and 
eight  millions  annually  to  the  national  wealth. 
But  speed  is  as  important  an  element  in  locomo- 
tion as  cheapness ; or  rather,  a slow  process 
cannot  be  cheap.  While  goods  are  in  the  act  of 
transfer  they  are  dead  to  commerce  ; they  are 
of  no  use  to  the  buyer,  the  seller,  or  any  one 
else.  It  would  be  deemed  a great  sacrifice  to 
lend  a person  $250,000  for  three  months  without 
interest,  yet  goods  in  passing  from  place  to  place 
resemble  money  thus  lent.  Every  tradesman 
knows  the  value  of  quick  returns.’^  $2,000, 
if  it  can  be  turned  over  three  times  in  the  course 
of  twelve  months,  wil^  be  more  profitable  than 
$5,000  which  returns  to  the  coffers  of  its  owner 
only  once  in  that  period.  The  invention  of  rail- 
ways, by  shortening  the  time  of  transit,  tends  to 
promote  quick  returns.  A merchant  who  orders 
goods  of  the  manufacturer  may  now  receive 
them,  sell  them  again,  and  make  another  pur- 
chase with  the  money  obtained  in  exchange  in 
less  time  than  would  formerly  have  elapsed  be- 
fore their  delivery. 

4.  Let  us  now  glance  at  the  relation  which 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY.  65 

exists  between  capital  and  the  remuneration  of 
labor.  This  is  an  important  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  one  which  borrows  peculiar  interest 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  present  time. 
When  the  workman  is  told  that  cheap  labor  is 
essential  to  the  accumulation  of  capital,  he  is  apt 
to  ask  indignantly.  Whether  labor  is  to  be  bound 
hand  and  foot  in  order  to  be  offered  as  a victim 
at  the  shrine  of  capital  ? Whether  the  poor  man 
is  to  toil  for  a mere  pittance  in  order  to  make  a 
rich  man  richer?  Such  bitter  recrimination  is 
altogether  groundless  ; it  is  the  fruit  of  a misun- 
derstanding. The  interests  of  capital  and  labor 
are  not  antagonistic ; it  is  not  necessary  to  offer 
the  one  as  a holocaust  to  the  other.  The  cheapest 
labor  which  can  be  wanted  is  labor  at  its  natural 
price,  and  a higher  price  than  this  cannot  be 
asked  without  damaging  the  interests  of  the  em- 
ployer, and,  through  him,  the  workman.  It  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  a proceeding  which  fet- 
ters capital,  and  thus  renders  it  less  accumulative, 
is  more  injurious  to  the  master  or  the  workman, 
since  it  tends  to  destroy  that  without  which 
wages  of  any  amount  are  impossible. 

The  accumulation  of  capital  tends  directly 
and  necessarily  to  raise  the  rate  of  wages,  un- 
derstanding by  that  term  the  command  of  the 
conveniences  of  life  which  a man  receives  in  re- 
5 


MONEY. 


turn  for  his  labor.  Sometimes  a higher  pecuni- 
ary equivalent  may  be  obtained  in  some  branches 
of  labor  during  the  infancy  of  capital,  before  the 
principle  of  competition  has  come  fairly  into  play  ; 
but  competition,  in  proportion  as  it  lowers  the 
nominal  rate  of  wages,  increases  their  exchangea- 
ble value  by  lowering  the  price  of  commodities. 
Rapidly  accumulating  capital  must  evidently 
have  the  double  effect  of  increasing  the  demand 
for  labor,  and  sharpening  the  struggle  for  cheap- 
ness. If  the  profits  of  the  past  year  enabled 
one  thousand  employers  each  to  put  $25,000 
into  his  business,  they  would  instantly  want  more 
men,  since  $25,000,000  more  money  would  have 
to  be  expended  in  the  erection  of  work-shops, 
the  purchase  of  materials,  and  the  payment  of 
labor.  If  they  found  a sufficient  number  of  per- 
sons to  suit  their  purpose  already  unemployed, 
there  would  be  so  many  less  to  compete  with 
those  who  are  in  employment;  but  if  all  were 
already  employed,  they  would  have  to  attract 
workmen  by  giving  higher  wages.  Thus  every 
addition  which  is  made  to  the  capital  of  the 
country  tends  directly  either  to  keep  wages 
from  sinking,  or  to  raise  them  higher.  But  such 
an  augmentation  of  capital  reacts  upon  the  real 
remuneration  of  labor  in  another  way.  A thou- 
sand manufacturers,  each  employing  more  money 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


61 


and  more  hands,  will  produce  a greater  quantity 
of  goods,  and  this  increased  production,  unless 
the  demand  increase  in  the  same  ratio,  must 
render  them  cheaper.  No  doubt  competition 
acts  on  wages  too,  by  forcing  the  employer  to 
economize  in  every  direction,  but  its  tendency 
to  depress  wages  is  trivial  compared  with  its 
cheapening  power.  There  is  a limit  below  which 
the  price  of  labor  cannot  sink,  but  no  limit  has 
yet  been  found  to  the  cheapness  of  production. 
By  improvements  in  agriculture,  mechanical  in- 
ventions, and  an  extended  market,  we  know  not 
what  luxuries  may  be  brought  within  the  reach 
of  the  working-man.  In  this  respect  a vast 
change  has  taken  place  within  the  present 
century.  Is  not  the  home  of  the  industrious 
and  provident  artisan,  in  many  cases,  a palace 
compared  with  what  it  would  have  been  fifty 
years  ago  ? Pine  has  given  way  to  mahogany ; 
he  treads  on  carpets  instead  of  sand.  When 
weary  he  reclines  on  a sofa,  or  throws  himself,  it 
may  be,  in  his  spring- bottomed  arm-chair.  His 
own  dress  is  of  superfine  broadcloth,  and  his 
wife  regards  silk  as  no  special  luxury.  If  he  is 
a reading  man,  every  month  brings  him  a packet 
of  magazines  ; and  perhaps  at  times  he  recreates 
his  family  by  the  sea-side.  Such  things  could 
not  have  been  done  formerly ; they  are  the  direct 


68 


MONEY. 


result  of  capital  and  competition,  the  share  which 
has  accrued  to  labor  from  the  increase  which 
has  taken  place  in  the  national  wealth. 

The  action  of  capital,  as  one  of  the  fa<dors 
concerned  in  the  production  of  wealth,  depends 
very  little  upon  its  being  distributed  among  va- 
rious hands,  or  gathered  within  few.  It  matters 
nothing  to  the  man  who  has  his  labor  to  sell, 
whether  a hundred  thousand  dollars  is  owned  by 
one  individual,  or  by  ten ; there  it  is,  to  be  made 
profitable  by  a remunerative  investment  of  some 
kind ; this  is  the  essential  fact  with  which  he  has 
to  do.  As  far  as  the  laborer  is  concerned,  the 
only  question  which  need  be  asked  is,  What 
arrangements  will  best  promote  the  accumula- 
tion of  capital,  and  thus  increase  the  demand  for 
labor  ? It  will  even  be  found,  perhaps,  that  the 
interests  of  the  operative  classes  are  more  ad- 
vanced by  a few  large  capitalists  than  by  many 
small  ones,  since  in  extensive  concerns  the  busi- 
ness is  more  economically  carried  on,  and  a pro- 
portionately smaller  sum  is  required  to  maintain 
the  establishment,  leaving  more  to  be  employed 
in  the  remuneration  of  productive  labor.  The 
working-man  is  apt  to  look  with  a jealous  eye 
upon  a person  of  extensive  wealth.  He  sympa- 
thizes with  the  humble  capitalist  who  is  strug- 
gling through  many  difficulties  toward  a more 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 


69 


affluent  position ; but  in  proportion  as  this  strug- 
gle, so  kindly  regarded,  becomes  successful,  bis 
sympathetic  feelings  are  changed  into  those  of 
envy  and  dread.  This,  however,  is  an  erroneous 
condition  of  matters.  The  wealthiest  man  in  the 
state,  even  if  he  does  not  perform  a single  act  of 
pure  benevolence,  provided  only  that  he  does 
not  squander  his  money  in  luxury,  but  expends 
it  so  as  to  bring  in  the  largest  revenue,  is  neces- 
sarily— not  in  spite  of  his  wealth,  but  by  virtue 
of  it — a useful  man."^ 

5.  No  truth  within  the  limits  of  social  science 
is  more  demonstrable  than  that  the  growth  of 
capital  tends  to  promote  the  welfare  of  all 
classes.  When  each  individual  is  doing  the  best 
he  can  for  himself,  the  entire  community  must 
also  be  prospering.  We  see  here  another  illus- 
tration of  the  simplicity  which  reigns  throughout 
the  social  structure.  The  ladder  by  which  man- 
kind ascend  from  the  depths  of  penury  to  com- 
petence and  happiness,  is  so  delicate,  so  framed 
in  harmony  with  the  very  texture  of  our  nature, 
that  it  must  evidently  be  the  work  of  God. 
Capital  spontaneously  directs  itself  into  the  most 
lucrative  channels.  Like  a mule  upon  the 
mountains,  when  left  to  choose  its  own  path,  it 

Of  course  we  employ  the  term  useful  in  a restrict- 
ed sense. 


70 


MONEY. 


seldom  goes  wrong ; but  when  coerced  by  the 
rider,  it  is  in  danger  of  plunging  down  some  fatal 
precipice.  Every  individual  seeks  to  better  bis 
circumstances : the  small  shop-keeper  is  always 
contriving  fresh  means  of  turning  his  money  to 
advantage  ; he  fixes  himself  in  the  best  situation 
he  can  discover,  endeavors  to  win  custom,  deals 
in  those  articles  which  yield  the  highest  profit, 
and  would,  at  any  moment,  throw  the  whole 
business  aside  if  he  felt  assured  that  another 
would  prove  more  lucrative.^  If  we  ascend  a 
few  steps  higher  we  find  the  same  principles  at 
work,  and  so  also  among  the  first  merchants, 
bankers,  and  capitalists  of  the  land.  The  great 
manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  of  the 
kingdom  are  self-adjusted  by  the  same  laws. 
Every  person  follows  his  present  pursuit  till  he 
finds  it  less  remunerative  than  another,  which  he 
instantly  chooses  in  its  stead.  Thus,  of  its  own 
accord,  the  public  capital  always  seeks  the  most 
profitable  investment;  pointing,  necessarily,  to- 
ward it,  as  the  needle  to  the  pole.  If  a wise 
king,  seeing  beforehand  the  necessity  for  such  an 

In  this  and  similar  places  men  are  spoken  of  in 
general  terms,  or  as  acting  universally  according  to 
certain  general  principles,  without  taking  into  account 
the  modifying  influences  in  character  and  practice 
arising  from  religious  considerations. 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY. 

investment  of  capital,  but  ignorant  of  the  means 
which  Providence  has  set  apart  to  secure  it, 
were  resolved  to  accomplish  the  same  object  by 
legislation,  what  a herculean  task  would  he  im- 
pose upon  himself ! what  innumerable  laws  would 
have  to  be  enacted  ! what  a multitude  of  details 
would  have  to  be  kept  in  view ! what  a host  of 
functionaries  would  have  to  be  constantly  em- 
ployed ! It  would  be  necessary  to  put  every 
capitalist  in  the  land  under  strict  surveillance,  to 
examine  all  his  schemes,  and  forbid  the  invest- 
ment of  a farthing  till  its  probable  value  had 
been  gauged  by  authorized  intellect.  How  slow 
and  agonizing  would  be  the  progress  of  society 
on  such  a system ! or  rather,  checked  on  every 
hand,  held  in  such  a state  of  unnatural  tension 
from  all  quarters,  how  soon  would  it  break  in 
pieces ! God  has  legislated  on  this  question, 
and  in  his  own  manner.  The  voice  which  said 
Let  there  be  light, has  spoken  here  in  lan- 
guage equally  simple.  Each  person,  in  providing 
for  his  own  welfare,  provides  to  a certain  extent 
also  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole.  The  divine 
arrangement  is.  Let  each  person,  charitable  and 
just  in  all  his  dealings,  employ  what  he  has  in 
that  way  which  seems  likeliest  to  him  to  produce 
more.  To  oppose  this  regulation  in  any  way  is 
only  selfish  in  a state  of  ignorance,  since  it  is  the 


72 


MONEY. 


only  one  which  harmonizes  with  the  progress 
and  well-being  of  society. 

When  this  regulation  is  strictly  observed,  its 
beneficial  results  are  innumerable.  Since  no 
pursuit  can  be  more  remunerative  than  another 
without  attracting  capital,  and  occasioning  in- 
creased production  and  competition  within  itself, 
it  insures  the  proper  distribution  of  capital  among 
the  various  branches  of  trade,  and  guarantees 
the  public  that  every  article  shall  be  furnished 
them  at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  It  stimulates 
and  rewards  industry,  suffers  no  man  to  vegetate 
with  impunity,  withers  the  unwatered  vineyard, 
and  increases  with  substance  the  diligent  hand. 
It  exacts  intelligence  as  one  of  the  chief  aids  to 
social  development ; the  possession  of  knowledge 
sufficient  to  enable  each  person  to  choose  those 
departments  of  labor  which  are  most  profitable, 
and  to  acquiesce  in  the  utility  of  the  general 
system.  This  is  one  of  the  chief  wants  of  society 
at  the  present  time.  The  popular  dissatisfaction 
which  is  leveled  against  capital  can  be  dissipated 
only  by  the  schoolmaster.  Not  one  educated 
person  in  a thousand  inveighs  against  capital. 
But  an  incomparably  larger  portion  of  the  un- 
educated classes  do  so,  and  the  only  way  to  di- 
minish it  is  to  enlighten  them.  It  is  a trace  of 
the  finger  of  an  almighty  Architect  that  capital 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY.  73 

is  necessitated  in  its  own  defense  to  educate  the 
people.  But  even  knowledge  is  not  the  highest 
requisite  to  the  increase  of  capital — the  virtues 
are  still  more  necessary.  Prudence,  industry, 
sobriety,  honesty,  perseverance,  benevolence, 
gratitude ; and  if  these,  then  also  those  divine 
principles  which  are  most  favorable  to  their  pro- 
duction, are  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of 
that  vigorous  social  life  which  God  has  made 
the  absolute  condition  of  social  progress. 

It  will  be  interesting,  after  this  brief  view  of 
the  nature  and  tendencies  of  capital,  to  glance 
at  some  of  its  efiects.  Fully  to  present  all  these 
in  their  proper  magnitude  would  involve  a his- 
tory of  our  social  progress  during  the  last  fifty 
years ; but  a few  facts,  selected  chiefly  from  the 
admirable  work  on  this  subject  by  the  late  Mr. 
R.  G.  Porter,  will  suffice  for  the  end  we  have  in 
view.  Let  us  first  glance  at  the  probable  amount 
of  our  present  accumulations — the  fund  out  of 
which  our  future  enterprises  must  be  carried  on. 
One  of  the  great  divisions  under  which  the 
national  capital  distributes  itself  is  that  of  per- 
sonal property.  A moment’s  reflection  will 
show  us  that  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the 
amount  of  this  with  absolute  accuracy ; still  we 
are  able,  from  the  produce  of  the  legacy-duty 
which  falls  upon  that  description  of  wealth,  to 


4 


74 


MONEY. 


form  an  approximate  estimate.  Before  giving 
the  result  of  Mr.  Porter’s  calculations,  it  will  be 
useful  to  understand  the  method  by  which  it  is 
obtained.  It  is  found  that  the  proportion  of 
deaths  annually  among  the  heads  of  families,  or 
those  who  leave  property,  is  about  one  in  forty- 
five.  Out  of  every  ten  who  die,  not  more  than 
three  leave  property  of  sufficient  importance  to 
require  a will.  The  aggregate  value  of  the 
effects  belonging  to  the  remaining  seven  must  be 
far  from  inconsiderable ; but  still,  as  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining  its  amount,  and  as  it  must 
be  comparatively  small,  we  may  leave  it  out  of 
view,  and  consider  the  personality  of  the  three 
wealthy  individuals  as  the  amount  bequeathed 
by  the  whole.  Thus,  in  England,  the  capital 
which  pays  the  legacy- duty  in  any  one  year 
may  be  regarded  as  having  belonged  to  all  the 
persons  who  die  within  the  same,  and  to  bear  a 
similar  proportion  to  the  entire  personal  prop- 
erty within  the  realm  as  those  persons  bear  to 
the  entire  population.  But  the  latter  proportion 
is  found  to  be,  as  we  have  stated,  about  one  in 
forty-five,  and  therefore  the  capital  charged  with 
legacy-duty  in  the  year  may  be  regarded  as 
one-forty-fifth  of  the  aggregate  amount  of  the 
same  species  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
munity. On  such  data  Mr.  Porter  estimates 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  MONEY.  YS 

the  value  of  personal  property  held  within  the 
realm  in  1841  at  $10,000,000,000.  This  im- 
mense amount  has  been  reached  by  progressive 
steps.  In  1Y97  the  capital  charged  with  legacy- 
duty  amounted  in  round  numbers  to  a million 
sterling,  while  during  the  next  four  decades  it 
advanced  respectively  to  nine,  thirty-three,  thirty- 
four,  and  forty-two  millions.  We  may  judge  by 
this  test  how  rapidly  the  nation  grew  in  wealth 
during  the  period  referred  to,  an  addition  of  eight 
hundred  millions  having  been  added  to  the  stock 
of  capital  in  the  twenty-four  years  preceding  1841. 
If  we  turn  to  that  species  of  property  which  con- 
sists in  land,  houses,  mines,  etc.,  we  meet  with 
an  amount  equally  startling.  The  population  of 
Great  Britain  is  now  nearly  double  what  it  was 
toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  yet  it 
may  be  safely  asserted  that  all  classes  live  in  a 
state  of  much  greater  comfort  now  than  at  any 
former  period.  Work  is  not  less  abundant,  the 
rate  of  wages  is  little  if  at  all  lowered,  while  a 
very  great  and  general  reduction  has  taken  place 
in  the  price  of  commodities.  What  supports  the 
nine  or  ten  millions  which  have  been  added  to 
the  population?  To  furnish  them  gratuitously 
with  the  means  of  subsistence  would  be  a gigantic 
act  of  pauperism,  sufficient  to  bankrupt  the 
richest  state;  but  capital,  leaguing  itself  with 


76 


MONEY. 


labor,  not  only  maintains  them  in  a high  condi- 
tion of  comfort,  but  lays  by  a surplus  which,  in 
the  course  of  a few  years,  will  suffice  for  the 
maintenance  of  millions  more.  It  heightens  our 
impression  of  the  astonishing  capabilities  of  trade 
to  reflect  that  the  present  position  of  England 
has  been  reached  in  the  face  of  an  enormous 
public  expenditure ; the  money  required  to  carry 
on  the  war  with  Napoleon  having  amounted 
in  one  year  (1814)  to  $500,000,000  ; and  other 
wars  have  laden  the  nation  with  a perma- 
nent debt  to  nearly  eight  times  that  amount. 
If,  in  spite  of  such  obstacles,  it  has  realized  so 
much  prosperity,  what  would  have  been  the  re- 
sult of  uninterrupted  peace?  We  cannot  hesi- 
tate to  admit  that,  if  those  vast  sums  had  been 
employed  in  remunerative  industry,  an  amount 
of  prosperity  would  have  been  experienced  that 
must  have  had  the  happiest  efiects  upon  the 
physical  and  moral  condition  of  England  first, 
and,  through  England,  upon  the  whole  European 
family/’ 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


nn 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MONEY  CURRENT  : A FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  GOLD, 
SILVER,  AND  BANK-NOTES. 

Gold  and  silver  are  the  most  remarkable  con- 
stituents of  wealth.  They  are  so  not  only  because 
they  have  a greater  value  in  proportion  to  their 
hulk  than  most  other  commodities,  but  because 
the  value  of  all  other  commodities  is  referred  to 
them  as  its  measure  and  symbol.  If  we  want  to 
ascertain  the  wealth  of  a person,  we  ask,  How 
much  money  is  he  worth  ? If  he  is  anxious  to 
grow  rich,  we  say  he  is  eager  to  make  money. 
A thousand  other  articles  may  be  refused  as  part 
of  a bargain,  but  no  one  thinks  of  refusing 
money.  Gold  and  silver  resemble  the  hero  of 
romance,  at  whose  approach  the  strongest  bolts 
fly  back,  and  the  heaviest  doors  swing  open. 

Let  us  briefly  consider  the  nature  and  origin 
of  money.  We  have  mentioned  the  division  of 
labor  as  one  of  the  sources  of  wealth.  This 
principle,  when  once  thoroughly  adopted,  not 
only  tends  to  increase  the  aggregate  riches  of 
the  community,  but  to  change  the  whole  aspect 
of  its  affairs.  At  first  each  man  worked  for  him- 
self, supplying  his  wants  as  best  he  could  with- 


78 


MONEY. 


out  the  help  of  his  neighbor.  This  phase  of 
society,  if  it  were  ever  anything  more  than 
theoretic,  soon  vanished.  Mankind  found  it  mu- 
tually advantageous  to  work  for  each  other. 
Instead  of  bewildering  themselves  with  a Babel 
of  conflicting  occupations,  the  farmer  kept  to  his 
plow,  the  smith  to  his  forge,  and  the  col  bier 
to  his  last.  But  here  a new  process  commenced. 
Of  the  numerous  wants  the  farmer  experienced, 
his  home-grown  wheat  would  supply  only  one. 
He  would,  therefore,  have  to  divide  the  remain- 
der of  his  wheat  into  so  many  lots,  and  carry 
them  where  they  could  be  exchanged  for  other 
commodities.  This  process  was  a new  era  in 
civilization — it  inaugurated  the  principle  of  ex- 
change. 

But  the  process  did  not  stop  here ; it  soon  led 
to  another  phenomenon.  The  function  of  ex- 
changing was  soon  assigned  to  one  commodity 
in  preference  to  others,  and  this  commodity  was 
called  money.  The  convenience  of  this  change 
would  soon  be  found  very  great.  The  farmer 
now,  instead  of  dividing  his  wheat  into  as  many 
different  lots  as  he  had  wants  to  provide  for, 
might,  if  he  so  chose,  sell  all  the  produce  of  his 
farm  to  one  person,  who  would  pay  him  for  it  in 
gold  or  silver,  with  which  he  might  at  any  mo- 
ment purchase  the  articles  he  might  require. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


79 


He  would  thus  obtain  an  imperishable  article  in 
the  place  of  a perishable  one.  Should  he,  owing 
to  a favorable  season,  obtain  more  wheat  than 
was  requisite  to  meet  his  immediate  wants,  he 
would  be  able  to  turn  it  into  something  which 
damp  could  not  spoil,  nor  mice  devour.  More- 
over, he  would  be  able  to  use  money  with  more 
facility  than  the  produce  of  his  farm.  He  could 
carry  a piece  of  gold  or  silver  to  the  smith,  or 
the  tailor,  much  more  easily  than  a sack  of  corn. 
Agricultural  produce,  it  is  true,  being  generally 
capable  of  minute  sub-division,  might  be  used  in 
purchasing  small  quantities  of  other  commodities, 
but  all  would  not  be  equally  successful  with  the 
farmer  in  this  respect.  The  grazier,  for  example, 
whose  property  consisted  of  so  many  head  of 
oxen,  would  often  be  unable,  if  confined  to  the 
method  of  barter,  to  purchase  the  exact  quantity 
of  salt  or  flour  which  he  might  have  occasion  for. 
He  would  evidently  be  obliged  to  buy  as  much 
as  would  be  an  equivalent  for  a single  ox,  or 
some  multiple  of  that  value ; he  could  not  buy 
a quantity  equal  in  value  to  half  an  ox,  or  an  ox 
and  a half.  But  the  adoption  of  money  as  an 
instrument  of  exchange  would ‘put  all  such  in- 
conveniences aside.  The  grazier  might  sell  his 
oxen,  and  with  the  proceeds  purchase  any 
amount  of  whatever  he  might  require.  For 


80 


MONEY. 


these  and  similar  reasons  money  must  soon  have 
come  into  general  use.  So  early  as  the  time  of 
Abraham  it  was  the  common  medium  of  ex- 
change. The  silver  which  he  weighed  to  the 
children  of  Heth  for  the  field  and  cave  of  Mach* 
pelah  was  current  money  with  the  mer- 
chant.’^ 

Some  writers  have  thrown  considerable  mys- 
tery around  the  origin  of  money.  It  has  been 
regarded  by  some  as  the  peculiar  instrument  of 
taxation — a mere  device  of  kingly  tyranny.  This 
view  conceals  its  true  nature.  Instead  of  being 
forced  into  circulation  as  an  arbitrary  equivalent 
for  commodities  which  had  been  forcibly  seized 
in  the  name  of  the  sovereign,  it  was  adopted  on 
account  of  its  intrinsic  utility.  Money  in  all  ages 
has  been,  not  a mere  symbol  of  value,  but  a real 
valuable.  Whatever  may  have  been  used  for 
that  purpose,  whether  the  precious  metal  or  any 
other  costly  article,  it  never  purchased  more  than 
it  appeared  lo  be  worth.  A bank-note  would  cease 
to  circulate  as  money  if  it  did  not  bind  the  party 
issuing  it  to  pay  the  bearer  the  sum  specified 
thereon.  A thousand  dollars  not  only  measures 
the  value  for  a certain  quantity  of  goods,  but  has 
itself  an  equal  and  independent  value  of  its  own. 
The  silver  which  Abraham  paid  in  exchange  for 
Sarah’s  burial-place,  though  he  could  neither 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


81 


eat  nor  drink  it,  was  as  truly  a part  of  his  wealth 
as  his  sheep  and  cattle.  The  tastes  of  mankind 
have  always  risen  higher,  than  the  mere  satisfy- 
ing of  their  bodily  wants.  They  have  aimed, 
not  merely  at  living,  but  at  living  in  elegance 
and  splendor.  Hence,  silver  and  gold,  being 
appropriate  to  the  purposes  of  decoration,  con- 
stituted as  true  an  element  of  wealth  as  food 
itself. 

As  the  use  of  money  is  simply  the  exchanging 
of  one  commodity  for  another,  convenience  alone 
determined  that  silver  and  gold  should  become 
the  common  medium  of  exchange.  The  choice 
of  these  metals  for  such  a purpose  was  not  made, 
however,  without  good  reasons.  Some  of  these 
are  evident.  Scarcely  any  other  article  is  less 
liable  to  decay.  A bar  of  gold  will  sustain  little 
injury  in  the  course  of  a thousand  years.  The 
precious  metals  are  also  both  hard  and  fusible, 
easily  divided  into  any  number  of  parts  to  suit 
the  convenience  of  the  dealer,  and  nearly  unite 
the  maximum  of  value  with  the  minimum  of 
bulk.  Their  most  important  characteristic  is, 
that  they  are  so  scarce,  and  the  labor  required 
to  procure  them  is  so  great,  as  to  secure  us  from 
any  considerable  or  sudden  alteration  in  their 
value.  This  is  a fundamental  point.  If  a per- 
son, in  concluding  some  purchase,  agreed  to  pay 
6 


82 


MONEY. 


another  in  twelve  months’  time  six  bushels  of 
wheat,  there  would  be  a danger  of  his  creditor 
obtaining  more  or  less  than  his  due,  since  the 
accident  of  a good  or  bad  harvest  next  autumn 
might  raise  or  sink  the  price  of  that  article  by 
one-half,  and  affect  in  such  a ratio  the  terms  of 
the  bargain.  But  it  is  impossible  that  the 
quantity  of  gold  in  circulation  next  year  should 
differ  so  far  from  its  present  amount.  During 
that  short  interval  its  variation  in  price  will  be 
very  inconsiderable,  and  hence  a payment  fixed 
in  it  will  fluctuate  in  value  much  less  than  if  it 
were  fixed  in  corn.  But  though  this  is  true  in 
reference  to  comparatively  short  intervals,  a dif- 
ferent law  holds  good  when  we  speak  of  centu- 
ries. A bushel  of  wheat  is  much  more  likely  to 
retain  the  same  value  in  relation  to  other  com- 
modities at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  an  era 
of  three  hundred  years  than  a sum  of  money. 
Of  this  Dr.  Adam  Smith  mentions  a remarkable 
instance.  By  the  eighteenth  of  Elizabeth,  it 
was  enacted  that  a third  of  the  rent  of  all  college 
leases  should  be  reserved  in  corn,  to  be  paid 
either  in  kind,  or  according  to  the  current  prices 
at  the  nearest  market.  The  money  arising  from 
the  corn-rent,  though  originally  but  a third  of 
the  whole,  is,  in  the  present  times,  according  to 
Dr.  Blackstone,  commonly  nearly  double  of  what 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


83 


arises  from  the  other  two-thirds.  The  old  money 
rents  of  colleges  must,  according  to  this  account, 
have  sunk  to  almost  a fourth  of  their  ancient 
value,  or  are  worth  little  more  than  a fourth  of 
the  corn  they  were  originally  worth.  Some 
ancient  rents  in  Scotland,  originally  of  considera- 
ble value,  have  in  this  manner  been  reduced 
almost  to  nothing,’’  All  payments,  therefore, 
which  are  intended  to  be  made  for  centuries  to 
come  at  a uniform  value  should  not  be  fixed  in 
money.  The  same  quantities  of  corn  will,  at 
distant  times,  be  much  nearer  the  same  value  in 
relation  to  other  commodities  than  the  same 
quantities  of  gold  or  silver. 

It  is  common  to  speak  of  barter  as  a transac- 
tion essentially  different  from  one  which  is 
effected  by  means  of  money,  the  name  being 
applied  to  an  exchange  of  commodities  of  one 
sort  for  those  of  another,  as  distinct  from  an  ex- 
change of  commodities  for  coin.  Such  a dis- 
tinction may  be  useful,  but  it  has  no  real  basis. 
The  precious  metals  are  as  truly  commodities  as 
sugar  and  cotton.  A purchase  is  not  essentially 
different  from  simple  barter,  and  whatever  we 
give  in  exchange  for  some  other  article  is  money. 
Because  the  merchant  finds  it  more  convenient 
both  to  the  seller  and  himself  to  effect  the  pur- 
chase by  giving  the  precious  metals  rather  than 


84 


MONEY. 


timber,  salt,  or  flax,  the  nature  of  the  process  is 
not  at  all  altered.  It  was  not  mere  accident 
which  determined  that  gold  and  silver  should  be 
used  as  money.  If  these  metals  had  been  less 
durable,  or  of  less  value  in  proportion  to  their 
bulk,  some  other  articles  would  have  been 
adopted  in  their  stead.  In  very  ancient  times 
the  Greek  or  Roman  merchant  drove  his  oxen  to 
the  smith’s  shop  to  obtain  in  exchange  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  forge ; but  when,  observing  that 
a piece  of  gold  of  a certain  size  and  quality  was 
regarded  as  equal  in  value  to  so  many  oxen,  he 
preferred  using  it  in  his  commerce  with  the 
smith : no  mystery  was  thrown  around  the  pro- 
cess ; he  merely  chose,  from  motives  of  private 
convenience,  to  part  with  one  kind  of  property 
rather  than  another. 

It  is  amusing  to  observe  how  many  different 
kinds  of  articles  have  been  actually  used  for 
money.  There  is  evidence  that  sheep  and  oxen 
were  extensively  employed  for  this  purpose  in 
the  earliest  ages.  The  illustration  usually  drawn 
from  Homer,  that  the  armor  of  Diomede  cost 
nine  oxen,  while  that  of  Glaucus  cost  a hundred, 
may  be  familiar  to  the  reader.  Hence  the  first 
coined  money  is  supposed  to  have  borne  an  im- 
press of  the  animal  whose  value  it  represented. 
An  instance  of  this  occurs  in  Job  xlii,  11,  where 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


85 


it  is  said,  that  every  one  of  Job’s  friends  gave 
him  a piece  of  money ^ The  term  used  in  the 
original  is  Jcesitahy  thought  by  some  to  denote  a 
sheep  or  a lamb ; but  the  most  correct  transla- 
tion may  be  presumed  to  be  that  which  favors 
the  idea  of  a piece  of  money  bearing  a stamp  in- 
dicating that  it  was  of  the  value  of  a sheep  or 
lamb.  The  generic  name  for  money  among  the 
Romans,  pecunia,  points  to  the  same  origin, 
having  been  derived  from  pecuSy  signifying  cattle. 
In  some  parts  of  Africa  pieces  of  cloth,  of  a 
certain  size  and  quality,  constitute,  so  to  speak, 
the  current  coin.  In  other  parts  of  the  same 
continent  cowry  shells  serve  for  money,  and 
elsewhere  cakes  of  salt.  In  some  parts  of  the 
East  Indies  fine  porcelain  shells  answer  the 
same  purpose ; and  among  some  of  the  American 
tribes  wampum,  or  strings  of  shells,  which  may 
be  worn  round  the  waist,  serve  both  for  orna- 
ments and  money.  Among  the  same  people,  as 
also  among  the  ancient  Russians,  and  all  primi- 
tive nations,  skins  were  a common  medium  of 
exchange.  This  fact  elucidates  that  passage  in 
Job,  where  the  patriarch  says,  ‘‘  Skin  for  skin, 
(literally,  skin  after  skin,)  yea,  all  that  a man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life,” — pointing  to  the 
universal  truth  that  the  love  of  existence  is  so 
strong  within  the  human  breast  that  nien  are 


86 


MONEY. 


willing  to  purchase  it,  though  at  the  cost  of  all 
their  earthly  provisions. 

Gold  and  silver,  which  now  constitute  the 
principal  medium  of  exchange  among  civilized 
nations,  have  been  found  in  abundance  in  many- 
different  parts  of  the  globe  from  the  earliest 
times.  The  first  accounts  we  have  of  these  pre- 
cious metals  are  found  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
sacred  historian,  speaking  of  the  river  Pison, 
probably  the  Indus,  says,  It  compasseth  the 
whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold, 
and  the  gold  of  that  land  is  good/^  Abraham 
is  said  to  have  been  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and 
in  gold and  Job  beautifully  exclaims,  at  the 
opening  of  the  sublime  passage  in  which  he  de- 
lineates the  nature  and  excellence  of  true  wisdom : 
Surely  there  is  a vein  for  the  silver,  and  a place 
for  the  gold  where  they  fine  it.’’  The  compara- 
tive abundance  of  gold  at  a little  later  period  is 
proved  by  the  large  supply  which  the  children 
of  Israel  carried  with  them  out  of  Egypt.  The 
tabernacle  erected  out  of  their  voluntary  offer- 
ings was  a costly  structure ; its  walls  and  a great 
part  of  its  furniture  were  overlaid  with  gold. 
The  entire  value  of  the  precious  metals  em- 
ployed in  its  construction  is  estimated  by  Dr. 
Kitto  at  $1,050,000.  Taking  into  account  the 
social  condition  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt, 


MONEY  CURRENT.  SY 

and  making  proper  allowances  for  the  valuable 
gifts  which  they  received  from  the  Egyptians  at 
their  departure,  we  cannot  but  conclude  that  in 
those  early  days  gold  was  very  plentiful  in  pro- 
portion to  the  population.  (The  Tabernacle  and 
its  Furniture,  by  Dr.  Kitto.)  We  learn  again 
from  the  sacred  records,  that  in  the  time  of 
Solomon,  gold  abounded  in  Palestine.  The 
reign  of  Solomon  may  be  regarded  as  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  that  metal.  He  collected  in 
one  year  six  hundred  threescore  and  ten  talents, 
probably  about  $1,500,000  in  value  of  our  money, 
and  his  ships  brought  from  Ophir  four  hundred 
and  twenty  talents  of  gold,  or  $900,000.  We 
are  told  in  the  Book  of  Kings  that  his  throne 
was  of  ivory,  overlaid  with  gold;  that  all  the 
drinking- vessels  were  of  gold,  and  all  the  vessels 
of  the  house  of  the  forest  of  Lebanon  were  of 
pure  gold;  none  were  of  silver,  for  silver  was 
nothing  accounted  of  in  the  days  of  Solomon,’’ 
who  made  silver  to  be  as  Stones  in  Jerusalem.” 
He  also  made  ^‘two  hundred  targets  of  beaten 
gold ; six  hundred  shekels  of  gold  went  to  qne 
target;  and  three  hundred  shields  of  beaten 
gold ; three  pounds  of  gold  went  to  one  shield.” 
These  statements  of  the  inspired  volume,  from 
which  we  should  infer  the  comparative  abun- 
dance of  gold  among  the  nations  of  antiquity, 


88 


MONEY. 


are  strikingly  confirmed  by  profane  history.'^ 
Diodorus  informs  us  that  Ninus,  the  founder  of 
Nineveh,  “ possessed  himself  of  all  the  treasures 
of  Bactriana,  among  which  v/as  abundance  of 
silver  and  gold;”  and  that  “ Semiramis,  ,he 
founder  of  Babylon,  erected  statues  of  beaten 
gold,  that  of  Jupiter  being  forty  feet  in  height, 
and  weighing  a thousand  Babylonian  talents,  and 
those  of  Rhea  and  Juno  equaling  it  in  size  and 
magnificence.”  From  the  accounts  given  by  Dio- 
dorus, it  is  inferred  that  Semiramis  had  collected 
as  much  gold  as  would  amount  to  fifty-five  mil- 
lions of  our  money.  The  tribute  which  Darius, 
king  of  Persia,  drew  from  his  various  provinces 
amounted  in  gold  alone,  according  to  the  calcula- 
tions of  Gibbon,  to  $15,000,000.  We  may  judge 
of  the  proverbial  wealth  of  Croesus,  king  of  Ly- 
dia, who  lived  five  hundred  and  forty  years  before 
Christ,  by  the  value  of  his  presents  to  the  temple 
of  Delphi,  which  amounted  to  four  thousand 
talents  of  silver  and  <wo  hundred  and  seventy 
talents  of  gold,  a sum  nearly  equal  to  $1  '7,000,000. 
The  enormous  wealth  of  Pytheus,  a Lydian  despot 
of  the  age  of  Xerxes,  enabled  him  to  entertain 

For  many  of  the  facts  embodied  in  this  chapter 
the  author  is  indebted  to  the  valuable  “ Lectures  on 
Gold,'^  which  have  recently  been  delivered  at  the  Mu- 
seum of  Practical  Geology. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


89 


that  monarch  with  his  whole  army,  when  on  their 
way  to  invade  Greece.  He  even  offered  to  defray 
the  whole  expense  of  the  expedition,  a piece  of 
generosity  which  Xerxes  ill  repaid  by  putting  his 
son  to  death,  rather  than  suffer  him,  at  his  father’s 
request,  to  leave  the  army.  The  metallic  treasures 
of  Pytheus  have  been  estimated  at  $18,000,000 
of  our  money.  Appian  tells  us  that  in  the  time 
of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  the  Egyptian  treasury 
contained  no  less  a sum  than  $890,000,000. 
The  immense  wealth  of  the  Romans  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  following  facts:  The  sums  ob- 
tained by  Augustus  through  the  testamentary  be- 
quests of  his  friends  amounted  to  $160,000,000. 
Tiberius  left  at  his  death  a fortune  of  $105,000,- 
000,  which  Caligula  is  said  to  have  squandered 
in  a single  year.  The  sum  required  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Roman  commonwealth  was  esti- 
mated, at  the  accession  of  Vespasian,  at  $1,500,- 
000,000.  Caesar,  before  setting  out  for  Spain, 
is  said  to  have  been  $10,000,000  in  debt,  and 
two  of  the  bribes  which  he  lavished  for  the 
maintenance  of  his  political  power  were  together 
more  than  $3,000,000. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  inquire  into  the 
source  from  which  the  ancients  drew  these  im- 
mense supplies  of  the  precious  metals ; but  the 
intricacy  of  the  subject  precludes  us  from  ven- 


90 


MONEY. 


turing  more  than  a few  general  remarks,  in  which 
we  shall  still  avail  ourselves  of  the  guidance  of 
Mr.  Hunt.  Humboldt  thinks  it  probable  that 
large  quantities  were  brought  by  the  Phoenicians 
from  Western  India  and  the  adjacent  coasts  of 
Arabia  and  eastern  Africa.  It  is  probable  that 
gold  was  found  in  abundance  in  the  countries 
bordering  on  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the 
Black  Sea.  Here,  Herodotus  tells  us,  the  Mas- 
sagetee  had  accumulated  an  immense  quantity 
of  gold,  and  here  too  the  Siberian  gold- washings 
have  been  found  so  lucrative  that  whereas  they 
yielded  but  |41,000  in  the  year  1830,  their 
value  increased  more  than  a hundred- fold  during 
the  next  twelve  years,  and  are  now  the  source 
of  a considerable  revenue  to  the  Russian  govern- 
ment. Very  extensive  gold- works,  evidently 
abandoned  for  many  centuries  past,  have  been 
discovered  on  the  south-eastern  slope  of  the 
Ural  Mountains.  They  were  worked,  in  all  proba- 
bility, by  the  Scythian  tribes  to  whom  Herodotus 
refers.  “ Their  extent  shows  that  the  workmen 
employed  in  them  must  have  been  numerous, 
while  an  inspection  of  them  proves  that  only  the 
rudiments  of  the  science  of  mining  were  then 
known.  They  seem  to  have  scraped  out  the 
gold  with  boars’  fangs,  and  collected  it  in  leather 
bags  or  packets.  Some  of  the  pits  are  twenty 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


91 


fathoms  deep.  The  roots  of  large  fir-trees  have 
spread  themselves  among  the  heaps  of  stones 
which  have  been  raised  against  the  sides  of  the 
furnaces.’’  Gold  was  also  procured  in  large 
quantities  from  Ethiopia  and  Nubia.  Belzoni 
discovered  that  an  extensive  tract  had  been 
worked  in  the  Sahara  Mountains,  and  Jacobs 
infers,  from  a close  examination  of  the  subject, 
that  the  produce  of  these  mines  was  not  less 
than  .$30,000,000  annually,  a large  proportion 
of  which  must  have  been  gold.  Hence  probably 
the  Pharaohs  drew  their  wealth.  Here,  perhaps, 
the  gold  was  produced  which  was  consecrated 
to  the  service  of  God  in  the  Jewish  Tabernacle, 
and  that  which,  along  with  costly  spices,  con- 
stituted the  valuable  presents  which  the  queen 
of  Sheba  offered  to  king  Solomon.  The  Athe- 
nians procured  gold  from  Thrace  and  the  isle  of 
Thasos ; Thessaly  also  produced  ores  which  were 
rich  in  the  same  metal.  The  Romans  drew  their 
enormous  wealth  from  various  sources — from 
Upper  Italy  and  Spain ; the  Noric  Alps  and  Il- 
lyria. From  this  last  district  gold  was  obtained, 
partly  in  large  grains  on  the  surface,  and  partly 
in  mines,  in  so  fine  a state  that  only  an  eighth 
part  was  lost  in  the  process  of  smelting  and 
refining.  Its  great  quantity  caused  a decrease 
in  its  price  by  one-third  throughout  Italy,  and 


92 


MONEY. 


induced  the  proprietors  to  employ  fewer  work- 
men in  order  to  raise  its  value.  We  have  seen 
that  the  wealth  of  Rome  during  the  Augustan 
age  was  immense,  but  it  soon  declined  very 
rapidly  in  consequence  of  the  closing  of  the  mines 
in  Illyria  and  Spain,  and  for  a long  period  the 
world  received  no  addition  to  its  stock  of  the 
precious  metals. 

Coming  down  to  more  modern  times,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  notice  the  traces  of  gold  which  have 
been  found  on  our  own  soil.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Romans  were  led  to  invade  Britain  in  conse- 
quence of  the  reports  they  had  heard  of  its 
excessive  wealth.  It  is  certain  that  they  worked 
the  Gogofau  mines  in  Caermarthenshire.  Small 
quantities  of  gold  have  also  been  picked  up  in 
Cornwall  from  the  earliest  times,  and  in  the  reigns 
of  Edward  I.  and  III.  extensive  works  were  car- 
ried on  at  Comb  Martin,  Devonshire;  between 
three  and  four  hundred  miners  from  Derbyshire 
were  employed  in  them,  and  their  produce  was 
so  considerable  as  to  assist  the  Black  Prince  in 
his  wars  against  France.  In  1390  Richard  II. 
granted  to  John  Younge,  refiner,  all  the  gold 
and  silver  found  in  any  mine  in  England,  on  con- 
dition of  his  paying  a ninth  part  to  the  crown, 
a tenth  to  the  Church,  and  an  eleventh  to  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  soil.  Such  was  the  rage  for  gold 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


93 


in  the  middle  ages,  that  it  became  one  of  the  lead- 
ing  objects  of  philosophic  pursuit.  In  1444 
a patent  was  granted  to  John  Cobbe,  that  by 
the  art  of  philosophy  he  might  transform  imper- 
fect metals  from  their  own  proper  nature,  and 
'transmute  them  to  gold  or  silver.’’  In  the 
eighth  century,  the  Hungarian  gold-mines  were 
first  worked,  and  in  the  following  century  those 
of  Sweden  and  Norway ; but  during  the  next 
five  hundred  years  the  quantity  of  gold  pro- 
duced from  mines  was  probably  not  more  than 
sufficent  to  make  up  for  the  annual  waste  of  that 
already  in  circulation.  The  discovery  of  America 
in  1492  was  soon  followed  by  considerable  ac- 
cession of  metallic  wealth,  though,  on  the  whole, 
the  general  impression  which  prevails  respecting 
its  amount  is  probably  exaggerated.  The  ex- 
travagant expectations  of  Columbus  and  his 
companions  were  greatly  disappointed.  The  In- 
dians were  strangers  to  the  arts  of  mining,  and 
the  little  gold  they  had  in  their  possession  had 
been  picked  up  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  or 
found  in  the  channels  of  their  mountain- streams. 
The  Spaniards,  however,  soon  began  to  search 
for  the  precious  metals  with  the  appliances  of 
European  skill ; extensive  works  were  set  on 
foot ; still,  to  1519,  the  annual  yield  of  gold  was 
not  more  than  $260,000.  Pizarro  landed  in 


94 


MONEY. 


Peru  in  152 Y,  and  during  the  next  twenty-five 
years  America  forwarded  to  Spain,  according  to 
the  calculation  of  Humboldt,  $3,150,000  per 
annum  in  gold,  which  would  make  the  total  pro- 
duce of  gold  in  America  from  1492  to  1545,  a 
period  of  fifty-three  years,  about  $85,000,000. 
In  1545  the  celebrated  silver-mines  of  Potosi 
were  discovered,  the  annual  produce  of  which, 
for  the  next  twenty-one  years,  was  equal  in  value 
to  $1,400,000. 

It  is  impossible  to  think  of  the  sufferings  in- 
flicted upon  the  American  aborigines,  in  this  mer- 
ciless struggle  for  gain,  without  pity.  The  un- 
happy  native  soon  found  that  the  possession  of 
gold  was  equivalent  to  a sentence  of  proscription 
and  massacre.  The  excesses  of  the  ruthless 
hordes  which  followed  the  banners  of  Cortes 
and  Pizarro  to  the  New  World  will  ever  stand 
among  the  most  cruel  and  loathsome  tragedies 
which  pollute  the  historic  page.  They  demon- 
strate to  the  world  that  mammon  is  as  blood- 
thirsty as  ambition,  and  that  the  happiness  and 
the  lives  of  millions  are  sometimes  as  cheap  at 
the  shrine  of  money  as  at  the  shrine  of  power. 
When  the  natives  had  yielded  to  their  invaders 
all  the  precious  metals  in  their  possession,  they 
were  straightway  reduced  to  slavery,  and  forced 
to  ransack  the  earth  for  more.  Hard  labor,  pros- 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


95 


ecuted  under  the  lash  of  their  cruel  task-mas- 
ters, destroyed  those  whom  the  sword  had 
spared  ; and  if  the  severities  at  first  resorted  to 
had  long  contined,  extinction  would  soon  have 
covered  with  its  shroud  the  hapless  race  of  Mon- 
tezuma. Avarice  at  length  supplied  its  own 
correction,  and  the  fear  of  having  no  slaves  to 
toil  dictated  the  exercise  of  moderation.  For 
three  centuries,  however,  the  chief  use  which 
Spain  made  of  her  enormous  colonial  empire 
was  that  of  ministering  to  domestic  luxury. 
Vast  treasures  were  annually  dispatched  to  the 
mother  country,  which  contributed  to  its  imme- 
diate wealth  at  the  expense  of  plunging  it  in 
irremediable  poverty.  Had  the  wealth  derived 
from  the  colonies  been  employed  in  stimulating  do- 
mestic industry,  or  been  absorbed  in  the  demands 
of  an  increasing  commerce,  it  would  have  proved 
a source  of  permanent  benefit.  But,  instead  of  be- 
ing applied  to  these  objects,  it  was  sought  merely 
as  the  means  of  present  gratification.  Agricul- 
ture was  neglected,  trade  discouraged,  but  lit- 
tle capital  was  expended  in  home  enterprises ; 
the  nation  strove,  as  far  as  possible,  to  live  on 
the  income  derived  from  the  precarious  source 
of  its  transatlantic  possessions,  and  when  this 
was  cut  off  it  became  at  once  poor.  Thus  we 
see  how  the  colonial  wealth  which  once  made 


96 


MONEY. 


Spain  an  object  of  envy  to  other  nations,  by 
discouraging  productive  industry,  the  only  true 
basis  of  national  greatness,  conduced  to  her 
present  prostration,  and  thus  the  selfishness  of 
her  councils  became  in  this  way  the  executor  of 
its  own  deserved  punishment. 

From  1760  to  1769  the  value  of  the  silver 
produce  of  the  Mexican  mines  amounted  to 
$112,828,860.  A more  liberal  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  home  government  raised  this  during 
the  period  1780-89  to  $193,504,554,  and  during 
the  next  nine  years  the  aggregate  produce 
amounted  to  $231,080,214.  The  disasters  of 
the  French  revolution,  by  diminishing  the  re- 
sources of  the  State,  obliged  the  proprietors  of 
mines  to  depend  for  capital  upon  the  advances 
of  private  speculators ; this  led  to  a narrowing 
of  mining  operations,  and  a consequent  diminu- 
tion of  their  produce.  The  severest  blow,  how- 
ever, was  struck  in  1810,  when  the  Mexican 
revolution  forced  most  of  the  old  Spaniards  to 
withdraw  their  capital  from  the  country.  The 
condition  of  the  mines  in  1823,  upon  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  republic,  was  most  deplorable. 
Nearly  all  the  works  had  gone  to  decay,  the 
passages  being  choked  up  and  the  shafts  filled 
with  water.  The  want  of  domestic  capital  led 
tQ  he  establishment  of  foreign  companies,  by 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


01 


whom  the  mines  were  for  the  most  part  reclaim- 
ed, though  at  a vast  expenditure,  and  with  no 
prospect  of  remuneration  for  years.  Many  of 
these  enterprises,  after  exciting  hopes  of  large 
profits,  turned  out  utter  failures.  Humboldt 
calculates  that  the  quantity  of  silver  which  the 
mines  of  Mexico  yielded  prior  to  1803  amount- 
ed to  the  enormous  sum  of  $1,767, 952, 000. 
Notwithstanding  the  abstraction  of  such  a vast 
amount,  Mr.  Ward  declares  his  conviction  that 
the  mineral  treasures  of  New  Spain,  so  far  from 
being  exhausted,  were  scarcely  touched;  and 
Humboldt  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  great 
mineral  resources  of  Mexico  began  at  precisely 
that  point  where  the  labors  of  the  Spaniards 
terminated.  It  serves  to  correct  the  impressions 
likely  to  be  conveyed  by  such  statements  to 
learn  that  Mexico,  though  poorly  cultivated, 
possesses  in  her  agriculture  a greater  source  of 
wealth  than  all  her  mines.  Humboldt  calculates 
that  the  agricultural  produce  of  Mexico  annu- 
ally, upon  an  average  of  ten  years,  amounts  tq 
$29,000,000.  On  the  other  hand,  the  annual 
average  produce  of  the  Mexican  mines  amounted^ 
before  the  revolution  of  1810,  to  $24,000,000, 
being  less  in  value  by  five  millions  than  the  pro- 
duce of  agriculture.  (Ward^s  Travels  in  Mex- 
ico.) 


7 


98 


MONET. 


After  a cessation  of  gold  discoveries  for  more 
than  three  centuries,  our  own  times  have  wit- 
nessed a revival  of  that  excitement  which  the 
tales  of  the  Spanish  navigators  formerly  spread 
through  Europe.  Ever  since  the  termination  of 
the  revolutionary  war  between  Great  Britain  and 
her  North  American  colonies,  a growing  import- 
ance has  been  attached  to  the  extensive  tract  of 
fertile  and  unoccupied  country  which  extends  from 
the  western  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the 
Pacific.  It  was  foreseen  that  in  the  spread  of 
civilization  westward  the  time  must  arrive  when 
that  part  of  the  world  would  become  the  seat  of 
rising  States,  but  no  expectation  w^as  entertained 
that  its  mineral  treasures  would  soon  render  its 
name  as  synonymous  for  wealth  as  that  of  Peru. 
Scarcely  five  years  have  elapsed  since  the  ‘‘  dig- 
gings’’ commenced  in  Cahfornia,  yet  the  land  is 
already  in  the  hands  of  a rapidly -inci*easing  pop- 
ulation, towns  and  villages  are  springing  up  in 
the  desert,  the  various  forms  of  civil  society  have 
been  extemporized  .into  existence,  and  its  politi- 
cal rights  been  recognized  in  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress. So  early  as  1849  nearly  fifty  thousand 
persons  were  conveyed  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  alone,  beside  those  who  chose  other 
routes,  on  their  way  to  San  Francisco ; and  the 
ratio  of  pfigratioi^  has  gone  on  increasing. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


99 


While  all  eyes  were  turned  to  California  as 
the  world’s  El  Dorado,  a golden  beam  suddenly 
shone  forth  from  another  quarter.  Australia,  as 
is  well  known,  is  an  immense  tract  of  land  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  almost  as  large  as  all  Europe, 
with  the  large  island  called  Van  Diemen’s  Land 
at  its  south-eastern  extremity,  and  separated 
from  it  by  Bass  Straits  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  across.  Emigration  to  this  part  of 
the  world  had  gone  on  rather  slowly.  Its  dis- 
tance, the  comparatively  unattractive  nature  of 
its  soil,  and  the  bad  reputation  it  had  acquired  as 
the  seat  of  the  British  penal  settlements,  had  in- 
duced the  intending  emigrant  to  choose  some 
other  part  in  preference.  In  its  physical  char- 
acteristics and  the  extent  of  its  population  the 
south-eastern  section  of  this  vast  continent  is  the 
most  remarkable.  Here  are  found  the  most 
considerable  rivers  and  mountains  which  have 
yet  been  discovered  within  its  limits.  The  great 
eastern  chain  of  mountains  commences  at  Wil- 
son’s Promontory,  opposite  Van  Diemen’s  Land, 
and  stretches  north  and  north-east  to  the  Aus- 
tralian Alps,  where  it  attains,  in  Mount  Kosci- 
usko, an  elevation  of  six  thousand  five  hundred 
feet.  From  the  Australian  Alps  the  range  con- 
tinues toward  the  district  of  Moreton  Bay,  at  a 
distance  of  seventy  or  one  hundred  miles  from  the 


100 


MONEY. 


sea,  rising  occasionally  to  the  height  of  four  thou- 
sand feet.  The  principal  auriferous  spots  which 
have  yet  been  discovered  occur  in  the  flanks  of 
this  mountainous  range,  or  on  its  lateral  spurs  and 
bi'anches.  The  general  character  of  the  gold- 
district  will  be  best  understood  by  approaching 
it  from  the  neighborhood  of  Sydney  or  Para- 
matta. Beyond  the  latter  of  these  towns,  which 
lies  the  farthest  inland,  we  find  for  thirty  or  forty 
miles  a gently  undulating  plain,  only  slightly 
raised  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Beyond  this 
the  ground  becomes  hilly,  and  slopes  gradually 
upward  for  many  miles,  till  it  reaches  an  eleva- 
tion of  perhaps  two  thousand  feet.  The  greater 
part  of  this  sloping  surface  is  intersected  with 
innumerable  gullies  and  ravines,  ‘^so  that  its 
whole  area  seems  equally  divided  between  the 
furrows  and  their  separating  walls  of  rock. 
These  gullies  have  for  the  most  part  perfectly 
precipitous  sides,  at  the  bottom  of  which  there 
is  generally  a little  trickling  stream,  which  after 
heavy  rains  is  swollen  to  a fierce  torrent.  The 
higher  we  ascend,  the  deeper  and  grander  do 
these  ravines  become,  till  they  almost  assume 
the  character  of  great  gulfs  or  bays  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  feet  deep,  with  grand  vertical 
precipices  winding  round  them  in  headland  after 
headland,  like  the  Alps  of  some  great  sea-shore. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


101 


Crossing  these  mountains,  which  is  a work  of  no 
ordinary  difficulty,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  Ba- 
thurst Plains,  a lofty  table-land,  more  than  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  About 
thirty  miles  across  these  plains  rises  the  Cono- 
balas  group  of  hills,  attaining  a height  of  two 
thousand  three  hundred  feet  above  the  level 
of  Bathurst.  On  the  northern  flank  of  these 
Conobalas  several  small  streams  run  down  into 
the  Macquarrie  river,  and  it  was  upon  the  banks 
of  two  of  these  small  streams,  the  Summer  Hill 
Creek  and  the  Lewis  Ponds  River,  that  gold  was 
first  found.  The  gold  was  found  in  the  accu- 
mulated sand  and  gravel,  especially  in  the  in- 
side of  the  banks  of  the  brook,  and  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  two  water-courses,  where  they  would 
often  check  each  other.  It  was  coarse  gold, 
showing  its  parent  site  to  be  no  great  distance, 
and  probably  in  the  quartz  veins  traversing  the 
metamorphic  rocks  of  the  Conobalas.’’ 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  Australia  is  pecu- 
liarly interesting,  because  the  way  to  it  was 
opened  by  scientific  thought.  Sir  Roderick 
Murchison  may  be  regarded  as  the  true  dis- 
coverer. That  gentleman  having  visited  the 
Ural  Mountains,  where  gold  is  found  in  large 
quantities,  was  struck  with  the  resemblance  be- 
tween that  district  and  the  great  eastern  chain 


102 


MONEY. 


of  Australia;  and  so  early  as  1844,  in  his  ad- 
dress to  the  Geographical  Society,  expressed  his 
opinion  that  the  latter  would  prove  auriferous. 
His  remarks  having  been  inserted  in  the  Austra- 
lian papers,  a Mr.  Smith,  then  engaged  in  some 
iron-works  at  Berrima,  was  induced  by  them  to 
go  in  search  of  gold.  His  search  proved  suc- 
cessful. He  sent  his  specimens  to  the  colonial 
government,  offering  for  £500^  to  reveal  the 
place  where  they  were  found.  This  offer  was 
declined  ; the  governor  engaged,  however,  if  Mr. 
Smith  would  mention  the  locality,  to  reward 
him  according  to  the  value  of  the  discovery.  To 
those  terms  Mr.  Smith  refused  to  accede,  and  it 
remained  for  Mr.  Hargraves,  who  had  gained 
considerable  experience  in  California,  to  remake 
the  discovery,  and  obtain  the  reward  from  gov- 
ernment on  their  own  conditions.  The  gold  was 
found  at  -first  in  large  quantities.  Some  of  the 
facts  narrated  are  very  remarkable.  Mr.  La- 
trobe.  Lieutenant-governor  of  Victoria,  states  that 
he  witnessed  the  washing  of  two  tins  of  blue 

For  convenience  in  rendering  the  value  of  English 
into  American  money,  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind 
that  the  English  pound  is  nearly  equal  in  value  to 
five  American  dollars.  At  this  estimate  the  English 
shilling  will  be  worth  about  a quarter  of  a dollar,  and 
the  English  penny  two  cents. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


103 


clay,  of  about  twenty-six  inches  in  diameter, 
and  that  ‘'the  yield”  was  no  less  than  eight 
pounds’  weight  of  pure  gold.  The  average  pro- 
duce of  the  Ballarat  diggings  was  estimated  for 
some  time  at  seven  hundred  ounces  per  day. 
Mount  Alexander  was  still  more  productive. 
The  gold  raised  there  in  December,  1851,  was 
calculated  by  hundredweights,  and  brought  into 
the  cities  on  the  coast  at  the  rate  of  two  tons  a 
week.  The  excitement  produced  throughout 
the  whole  colony  by  such  astonishing  discoveries 
can  with  difficulty  be  conceived.  The  towns 
poured  their  population  into  the  country.  In  the 
district  last  mentioned  twenty  thousand  persons 
were  soon  congregated.  This  sudden  absorption 
of  labor  in  one  pursuit,  joined  to  the  enormous 
influx  of  gold,  produced  an  instantaneous  change 
in  the  price  of  every  other  commodity.  Wages 
in  the  public  departments  rose  at  once  fifty  or  a 
hundred  per  cent.  Police,  turnkeys,  letter- 
carriers,  instead  of  45.  6c?.  received  from  7s.  to 
85.  a day.  Laborers’  wages  rose  from  5s  to  15s. 
and  205.  a day,  and  those  of  artisans  from  eighty 
to  a hundred  and  twenty  per  cent.  The  price 
of  food  rose  in  proportion.  The  quartern  loaf, 
which  could  formerly  be  procured  for  5c?.,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  year  sold  for  l5.  8d., 
and  at  the  last  account  for  l5.  8c?.  The  price 


MONEY. 


104 

of  meat  was  doubled,  and  bacon  rose  from  Qd.  to 
2s.  a pound.  House-rent,  hotel  charges,  cartage, 
and  boat-hire,  rose  fifty  per  cent. ; clothes,  hard- 
ware, and  furniture,  a hundred  per  cent. ; and 
the  price  of  shoeing  a horse,  formerly  6s. , was 
now  255.  These  changes  in  the  price  of  com- 
modities may  be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  ordinary  industrial  pursuits,  and  the 
sudden  increase  of  the  population.  During  the 
last  six  months  of  1851  no  less  than  eleven  thou- 
sand persons  arrived  by  sea  at  the  colony  of  Vic- 
toria, and  during  the  first  seventeen  days  of  1852, 
two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- one. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  capability 
which  gold  has  of  resisting  the  influences  of  the 
atmosphere  as  peculiarly  fitting  it  for  answering 
the  purpose  of  money ; its  extreme  malleability 
renders  it  equally  fit  for  articles  of  decoration. 
It  may  be  beaten  into  leaves  no  thicker  than 
^3-2’^0-^th  part  of  an  inch.  A single  grain  may 
be  beaten  into  a leaf  which  will  cover  56 J inches, 
or  may  be  drawn  into  a wire  500  feet  in  length. 
Gold  is  distinguished  from  nearly  all  other 
metals  by  its  extreme  density.  Its  specific 
gravity  (its  weight  as  compared  with  that  of  an 
equal  bulk  of  pure  water)  is  nearly  lOJ,  while 
that  of  silver  is  not  quite  IO4,  lead  not  quite  I34, 
and  quicksilver  no  more  than  11 4.  Its  greater 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


105 


relative  density  is  of  great  use  in  determining  its 
presence  when  other  indications  happen  to  be 
wanting.  Should  the  miner  or  washer  find  a 
piece  of  quartz  of  more  than  ordinary  weight, 
he  is  seldom  disappointed  in  finding  it  auriferous. 
Such  a test  is  the  more  valuable,  as  there  are 
several  mineral  substances  which  have  a striking 
resemblance  to  gold.  One  of  these  is  the  yellow 
mica.’’  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair  recently  exhibited  a 
specimen  of  this  mineral,  part  of  a cargo  brought 
from  the  Arkansas  in  mistake  for  gold,  a mistake 
which  nearly  ruined  the  adventurer  who  brought 
it.  The  same  professor  tells  us  that,  a short 
time  since,  a vessel  arrived  at  a sea-port  from 
Icjiaboe,  having  as  part  of  its  cargo  a number  of 
bags  of  supposed  gold.  Two  dealers  in  the  pre- 
cious metals  went  to  examine  this  supposed 
treasure.  One  prudently  submitted  a specimen 
to  the  inspection  of  a scientific  man ; but  the 
other,  hoping  to  steal  a march  upon  his  fellow - 
trader,  went  on  board  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
and  bought  the  whole  at  a high  price,  the  ma- 
terial being,  in  a commercial  point  of  view,  utterly 
worthless.  It  is  important  to  remember,  as  a 
chemical  test  of  great  simplicity,  that  gold  will 
dissolve  when  heated  in  a mixture  of  aquafortis 
'^nd  spirits  of  salts;  or,  "‘by  throwing  a little 
jommon  salt  and  saltpetre  into  water,  and  adding 


106 


MONEY. 


a little  oil  of  vitriol,  chlorine  will  be  produced, 
and  the  gold  will  dissolve.’’  The  gold  thus  dis- 
solved can  then  be  brought  back  to  its  original 
state  by  other  processes  equally  simple. 

Gold  generally  occurs  in  a pure  state,  or  at 
least  so  pure  that  its  metallic  character  can  at 
once  be  recognized.  Other  metals  are  generally 
found  in  combination  with  foreign  substances. 
Iron,  copper,  tin,  and  lead,  are  most  frequently 
found  in  chemical  combination  with  oxygen, 
sulphur,  arsenic,  and  carbon  ; so  that  their  pres- 
ence can  only  be  distinguished  by  a scientific 
eye ; but  gold  probably  in  all  cases  is  in  a state 
of  mechanical  mixture,  not  chemical  combination. 
It  is  found  most  frequently  on  or  near  the  surface 
of  the  earth  in  veins  of  quartz  or  other  minerals, 
from  a few  inches  to  several  feet  in  breadth ; or 
else  in  places  not*  far  distant,  where  it  has  been 
carried  by  the  action  of  water,  and  there  de- 
posited. From  these  circumstances  spring  the 
various  methods  of  searching  for  gold.  When 
sought  for  in  its  original  seat,  the  quartz  veins, 
the  process  is  very  laborious ; vast  masses  of 
rock  have  to  be  removed,  and  all  the  arts  of 
mining  to  be  resorted  to.  In  other  cases  the 
operations  are  more  simple.  Where  the  gold 
has  been  drifted  by  the  action  of  water  over  the 
surface  of  the  land,  it  is  generally  found  to  the 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


107 


depth  of  a few  feet,  under  a cover  of  soil,  peat, 
sand,  gravel,  or  other  materials  capable  of  being 
washed  down  from  the  neighboring  rocks.  The 
removing  of  this  cover  in  search  of  the  gold  un- 
derneath constitutes  the  dry  diggings  the 
‘‘  wet  diggings  are  those  which  are  carried  on 
in  the  beds  of  rivers. 

Considerable  excitement  prevails  at  the  pres- 
ent time  respecting  the  probable  effect  which 
the  rich  discoveries  in  California  and  Australia 
will  have  upon  the  value  of  gold,  and  conse- 
quently on  the  value  of  fixed  incomes.  It  will 
aid  in  forming  an  intelligent  opinion  on  this  sub- 
ject to  know  the  ratio  of  our  supply  of  gold, 
both  past  and  present,  to  the  entire  stock  of  our 
pecuniary  wealth.  It  is  calculated  that  the 
whole  of  the  money  current  in  Europe  at  the 
time  of  the  discovery  of  America  amounted  to 
£34,000,000.  That  produced  in  the  interval 
1492-1599,  after  making  allowance  for  the  loss 
by  wearing  away,  probably  amounted  to  £138,- 
000,000,  which  added  to  the  former  gives  a total 
of  £172,000,000.  It  is  further  calculated  that 
the  quantity  which  during  the  same  period  was 
conveyed  to  Asia  in  exchange  for  its  commodi- 
ties, or  applied  to  other  uses,  amounted  to 
£42,000,000,  leaving  the  stock  of  gold  and 
silver  coin  current  in  Europe  at  the  end  of  1599, 


MONEY. 


loa 

£130,000,000.  During  the  interval  1600-1700, 
our  entire  supply  of  gold  was  derived  from 
America,  whose  mines  are  calculated  to  have 
produced  in  the  course  of  the  century  £337,- 
600,000  worth  of  the  precious  metals.  Of  this, 
£33,000,000  were  sent  to  the  Philippine  Islands, 
India,  and  China;  £60,000,000  of  gold  were 
employed  in  the  decorative  arts ; and,  if  £34,- 
000,000  is  allowed  for  diminution  in  natural 
wear,  losses  by  shipwreck,  etc.,  the  amount  of 
coined  money  in  Europe  at  the  end  of  1699  may 
be  estimated  at  £297,000,000  sterling.  During 
the  next  century  our  chief  supplies  were  drawn 
from  America,  the  whole  of  which,  including 
gold-dust  from  Africa,  and  the  gold  and  silver 
produce  of  Europe,  may  be  set  down  at  an 
aggregate  of  £800,000,000;  or,  £8,000,000 
annually.  During  the  present  century  the 
sources  of  supply  have  been  more  numerous, 
and  some  have  grown  less  fertile.  The  Ameri- 
can mines  were  estimated  in  1840  at  £5,600,000 
a year,  a sum  very  considerably  lower  than 
Humboldt’s  estimate  thirty  years  previous,  and 
their  aggregate  amount  (excluding  California, 
of  course,)  has  not  increased  during  the  last  four 
or  five  years.  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  other 
parts  of  the  United  States,  have  produced  large 
quantities  of  gold, — its  value  having  been,  in  1 828, 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


109 


$46,000;  and  in  1841,  $542,117.  The  great 
increase  of  gold,  however,  has  been  from  the 
Russian  mines.  In  1830  the  gold  washings  of 
Siberia  produced  five  poods  ; in  1842,  six  hundred 
and  thirty- one  — a pood  being  equal  to  forty 

pounds  troy.  In  this  latter  year  the  total  pro- 
duce of  the  Russian  mines,  including  those  in 
the  Ural  Mountains,  was  nine  hundred  and 
seventy- one  poods,  or  £1,989,128  lls,;  and  Sir 
Roderick  Murchison  estimates  the  produce  of 
gold  at  the  present  time  in  Russia  at  £3,000,000 
per  annum.  California  exported  gold  to  England 
in  1850  to  the  value  of  £700,000 ; in  1851,  to 
the  value  of  £1,300, 000;  and,  if  the  importation 
of  the  present  year  (1852)  goes  on  at  its  past 
rate,  it  will  not  be  less  than  £2,000,000.  From 
Australia  we  received  last  year  £40,000,  while 
to  the  end  of  June  in  this  year  we  received 
£2,600,000,  being  at  the  rate  of  £5,200,000  a 
year,  an  amount  not  far  from  equal  to  the  whole 
produce  of  the  American  mines  in  1840.  Mr. 
Hunt  says:  ‘^It  has  been  estimated  by  some 
that  £23,000,000  of  gold  and  silver  will  be 
added  to  our  store  of  precious  metals  this  year. 
This  appears  to  be  one  of  the  exaggerated  state- 
ments arising  out  of  the  fever  of  the  day:  we 
shall  not  receive  more  than  £11,000,000  from 
the  United  States,  California,  and  Australia ; and 


110 


MONEY. 


if  we  receive  £3,000,000  more  from  all  other 
sources,  it  will  be  as  much  as  we  may  expect.” 
In  asking  what  effect  the  increased  supply  of 
gold  will  have  in  raising  or  lowering  its  present 
value,  we  must  not  forget  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  the  demand.  This  side  of  the  question 
is  as  important  as  the  former,  for,  though  the 
supply  of  gold  has  greatly  increased,  yet  if  the 
demand  for  it  has  increased,  or  is  likely  to  in- 
crease in  the  same  ratio,  its  value  will  remain  un- 
disturbed. We  may  recognize  this  more  clearly 
if  we  select  some  other  article  for  illustration. 
If  the  quantity  of  wheat,  for  example,  at  present 
in  the  markets  of  the  world  were  gradually 
doubled,  the  wants  of  the  population  remaining 
the  same,  its  value  would  be  greatly  diminished. 
The  holder  of  wheat  to  the  previous  value  of 
£10,000  would  find  his  property  diminished 
probably  by  more  than  half  that  amount,  and 
all  payments  fixed  in  wheat  would  be  worth  no 
more  than  half  their  former  value.  But  if  by 
any  means  whatever,  when  the  quantity  of  wheat 
was  doubled,  the  demand  for  it  was  doubled 
also,  its  value  would  remain  unchanged.  We 
estimate  the  value  of  money  by  the  quantity  of 
commodities  it  will  purchase,  and  this  is  fixed 
by  the  quantity  of  both  which  happens  to  be  in 
the  market  together.  If  the  present  amount 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


Ill 


of  commodities  purchasable  with  money  were 
doubled,  or  the  existing  stock  were  iheduccd  by 
one-half,  that  portion  of  the  latter  which  remain- 
ed would  evidently  increase  in  value  in  the  same 
proportion ; and  the  converse  process  would  take 
place  if  the  existing  sum  of  all  commodities  were 
to  be  reduced  by  one-half  the  present  amount, 
or  that  of  money  were  doubled.  But  if  both 
were  multiplied  or  diminished  in  equal  ratio,  no 
change  would  transpire  in  their  relative  value. 
This  is  precisely  what  facts  demonstrate  to  be 
taking  place  at  the  present  time.  The  quantity 
of  gold  is  being  augmented,  but  an  augmenta- 
tion equally  rapid  is  going  on  in  the  quantity  of 
commodities  purchasable  with  it.  We  have 
more  money ; but  our  growing  commerce  and 
manufactures  find  it  more  work  to  do.  Money 
is  the  exchanging  medium,  but  we  have  twice 
what  we  formerly  had  to  exchange ; to  avoid  in- 
convenience, therefore,  it  is  desirable  that  money 
should  increase  to  the  same  extent.  The  gold 
produced  during  the  last  two  years  seems  to 
have  been  entirely  absorbed  in  meeting  the  de- 
mands of  commerce.  The  exportation  of  coin 
from  England  keeps  pace  with  the  importation 
of  raw  gold.  From  November,  1850,  to  June, 
1851,  the  Bank  of  England  issued  nine  million 
five  hundred  thousand  sovereigns,  being  at  the 


112 


MONEr. 


rate  of  eighteen  million  a year;  and  so  great 
has  been  the  demand  for  gold  coins,  that  since 
November  last  there  have  been  coined  at  the 
Mint  three  million  five  hundred  thousand  sov- 
ereigns and  half-sovereigns,  and  the  rate  of  pro- 
duction can  hardly  keep  pace  with  the  increasing 
demand.  Beside  the  increased  demand  for  the 
precious  metals  which  arises  thus  from  their  use 
as  money,  they  are  being  employed  to  an  unpre- 
cedented extent  in  the  arts  and  manufactures, 
and  this  must  tend  directly  to  increase  the  de- 
mand. In  Birmingham  alone  the  weekly  con- 
sumption of  pure  gold  is  one  thousand  ounces ; 
ten  thousand  ounces  are  used  annually  for  gild- 
ing metals ; one  establishment  in  the  potteries 
employs,  in  gilding  porcelain,  etc.,  £3,500,  and 
another  nearly  £2,000.  It  is  calculated  by  Mr. 
M'Culloch  that  the  total  annual  consumption 
of  the  precious  metals  in  the  arts  is  £6,050,000, 
or  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  entire  annual 
produce  of  all  the  mines  in  the  world  during  the 
last  century.  Beside  this,  nearly  £2,000,000 
annually  are  required  to  make  up  for  waste  and 
loss  in  the  existing  metallic  currency ; so  that  a 
supply  of  forty  or  forty-five  millions  of  dollars 
is  absolutely  necessary  before  any  addition  can 
be  made  to  the  quantity  of  the  precious  metals 
in  circulation.  From  these  facts  alone  we  may 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


113 


conclude  ^Hhat  the  influx  of  Australian  and 
Californian  gold  will  produce  but  little  change 
in  its  value  in  Europe.’’ 

One  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  connected 
with  a metallic  medium  of  exchange  is  coinage. 
In  ancient  times  gold  and  silver  were  sold  by 
weight.  Abraham  weighed  the  purchase  money 
of  Machpelah ; and  the  sons  of  Jacob,  when  they 
went  to  purchase  corn  in  Egypt,  carried  their 
money  “ in  full  weight.”  In  the  prophet  Amos, 
the  Israelitish  merchants  are  represented  as 
falsifying  the  balances  by  deceit.”  The  shekel 
and  talent  do  not  appear  to  have  been  origi- 
nally fixed  and  stamped  pieces  of  money,  but 
simply  weights  used  in  traffic.  Hence  the  in- 
junction, Thou  shalt  not  have  in  thy  bag  di- 
vers weights,  a great  and  a small.”  It  was  cus- 
tomary for  the  Jews  to  have  scales  attached  to 
their  girdles  for  weighing  the  gold  and  silver 
they  received,  but  the  Canaanites  carried  them 
in  their  hands.  Pliny  tells  us,  on  the  authority 
of  an  ancient  historian,  that  until  the  times  of 
Servius  Tullius  the  Romans  had  no  coined  mon- 
ey, bars  of  copper  being  used  instead.  Long 
after  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror,  mon- 
ey was  paid  into  the  English  exchequer  by 
weight,  and  in  many  parts  of  China  and  Abys- 
sinia the  value  of  gold  and  silver  is  still  ascer- 
8 


114 


MONEY. 


tained  in  the  same  manner.  The  origin  of  coin- 
age may  be  accounted  for  on  the  most  obvious 
principles.  Previous  to  the  reign  of  William 
III.,  it  was  the  sworn  duty  of  a public  officer, 
called  an  almager,  to  measure  all  cloth  manufac- 
tured in  the  realm,  and  to  indicate  by  a mark 
that  it  was  of  a certain  required  length.  Such 
a step  was  thought  necessary  to  protect  the 
buyer  from  imposition  ; and  if  really  so  with  an 
article  comparatively  inexpensive,  the  actual 
quantity  of  which  it  was  so  easy  to  ascertain, 
we  may  conceive  how  necessary  it  was  felt  to 
have  some  method  of  guaranteeing  the  quality 
and  weight  of  the  precious  metals.  Without 
such  a guarantee  every  purchase  into  which 
they  entered  must  have  been  very  slow  and  pre- 
carious, since  in  every  case  the  seller  would  have 
had  to  ascertain,  not  only  their  weight,  but 
whether  they  contained  any  mixture  of  alloy. 
If  this  could  have  been  done  without  much  incon- 
venience in  the  case  of  skilled  merchants  and  large 
transactions,  it  would  be  different  with  the  thou- 
sand petty  exchanges  which  take  place  every 
day  between  inexperienced  or  ignorant  persons. 
We  cannot  doubt,  from  the  ease  with  which  spu- 
rious money  is  circulated  even  in  the  face  of  ex- 
isting precautions,  that,  if  there  were  no  coinage, 
frauds  would  be  indefinitely  multiplied,  and  a 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


115 


sense  of  insecurity  produced  which  would  soon 
put  an  end  to  one-half  our  present  commerce. 

The  advantages  of  coined  money  led  to  its 
adoption  at  a very  early  period.  At  first,  per-- 
haps,  the  process  of  coining  consisted  simply  in 
imposing  a certain  mark  upon  a piece  of  metal 
to  certify  its  quality,  leaving  its  amount  to  be 
ascertained  by  weight;  but  one  improvement 
leading  to  another,  the  processes  of  assaying  and 
weighing  were  both  dispensed  with,  by  reducing 
all  money  to  certain  denominations,  each  pos- 
sessing a fixed  and  uniform  value.  Thus,  in 
England,  that  which  we  now  call  a pound  was 
originally  a pound’s  weight  of  silver.  This  was 
coined  into  twenty  shillings,  and  each  shilling 
made  exchangeable  for  twelve  silver  pennies.  It 
Is  evident  that  this  further  improvement  must 
have  been  very  favorable  to  commerce,  by  facil- 
itating the  conclusion  of  every  purchase,  the  ex- 
act value  of  the  pecuniary  equivalent  being  set- 
tled beforehand.  In  most  countries  the  prerog- 
ative of  coining  has  been  assumed  by  the  State, 
to  which  it  has  often  been  a source  of  consider- 
able profit.  This  arose  partly  from  the  seignior- 
age or  duty  which  was  charged  on  all  metals 
passing  through  the  mint ; but  whatever  emol- 
uments might  arise  from  this  practice,  which  is 
now  abolished,  they  were  trivial  compared  with 


116 


MONEY. 


the  immense  sums  of  which  the  public  have  been 
defrauded  by  the  systematic  depreciation  of  the 
coin.  This  nefarious  course  has  been  taken  by  the 
State  in  almost  every  country  in  Europe,  when- 
ever its  coffers  needed  replenishing  or  its  debts 
grew  burdensome.  It  has  been  said  that  corpo- 
rate bodies  have  no  conscience,  and  the  utterer 
of  this  maxim  could  hardly  wish  a better  illus- 
tration of  its  truth  than  the  historic  fact  to  which 
we  advert.  If  a person  owed  a hundred  pounds 
while  his  property  was  not  worth  more  than 
fifty  pounds,  he  would  be  thought  dishonest 
or  insane  if  he  proceeded  to  give  his  creditors 
sixpence  for  every  shilling,  and  to  insist  upon 
this  as  a full  payment  of  his  debts.  Still  more 
villanous  would  it  be  thought  if,  having  the 
power,  he  decreed  that  such  a change  should  be 
legal  throughout  the  land;  that  in  all  future 
payments  sixpence  should  count  for  a shilling. 
This  would  be  nothing  less  than  a robbery  upon 
all  who  had  any  money  owing  theni ; it  would 
deprive  every  creditor  of  one-half  his  rights. 
Yet  this  is  precisely  what  some  European  govern- 
ments have  done  again  and  again.  The  injustice 
has  not  been  perpetrated  exactly  in  the  way  we 
have  described ; this  would  have  been  too  fla- 
grant ; but  the  same  end  has  been  more  covert- 
ly reached.  A piece  of  silver,  which  ought  to 


MONEY  CURRENT.  Il7 

have  been  coined  into,  say,  two  shillings,  has 
been  coined  into  three,  and  those  to  whom  it 
was  issued  at  its  full  nominal  value  been  cheated 
to  the  extent  of  one-third.  We  have  already 
seen  that  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  an  English 
pound  consisted  of  a full  pound's  weight  of  sil- 
ver. This  was  divided  into  twenty  shillings,  and 
each  of  these  again  into  twelve  silver  pennies, 
each  shilling  being  in  weight  one-twentieth,  and 
each  penny  one-hundred-and-fortieth  part  of  the 
original  poUnd.  The  coin  remained  in  this  state 
till  the  days  of  Edward  I.,  when  a depreciation 
took  place,  which  was  continued  under  success- 
ive sovereigns,  till,  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  a 
pound  of  silver  was  coined  into  sixty -two  shil- 
lings, the  real  value  of  which  was  thus  three 
times  below  its  nominal  value.  Such  a course 
is  not  peculiar  to  modern  times.  Ancient  Rome 
furnishes  a remarkable  instance.  On  the  first 
coinage  of  money  under  Servius  Tullius,  the  as, 
or  pondo,  contained  twelve  ounces,  but  in  three 
hundred  years  after  it  was  reduced  to  two  oun- 
ces ; so  that  a pecuniary  engagement  fixed  at  the 
beginning  of  that  period  could  be  met  at  its 
close  with  one-sixth  its  original  and  just  amount. 
France,  however,  affords  the  most  flagrant  in- 
stance of  this  evil  on  record,  since  a livre  or 
pound  of  the  days  of  Charlemagne  exceeded  by 


118 


MONEY. 


sixty-six  times  the  amount  to  which  it  had  sunk  in 
1 7 89.  Happily  the  time  has  gone  by  when  such  op- 
pressive measures  could  be  forced  upon  the  world. 

When  several  kinds  of  metals  are  used  in 
money,  it  is  necessary  to  have  one  set  apart  as 
the  LEGAL  STANDARD  OF  VALUE.  This  will  be  at 
once  evident  if  we  reflect  that  the  value  of  the 
precious  metals,  in  reference  to  other  commodi- 
ties, depends,  as  we  have  seen,  entirely  upon  the 
quantity  in  which  they  can  be  procured.  If  the 
quantity  of  gold  now  in  circulation  were  instantly 
doubled,  and  commodities  and  purchasers  re- 
mained as  before,  its  value  would  at  once  sink 
one-half,  just  as  the  price  of  wheat  would  sink 
to  that  extent  if  the  quantity  which  is  stored  in 
the  granaries  of  Europe  were  suddenly  raised  to 
twice  its  present  amount.  The  same  may  be 
affirmed  of  silver,  copper,  or  any  other  metal  or 
article  whatsoever.  Now  if  gold  and  silver,  in 
all  their  fluctuations,  always  rose  or  fell  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  ratio — if  an  ounce  of  gold,  how- 
ever large  or  small  the  quantity  of  other  com- 
modities which  could  be  had  in  exchange  for  it, 
were  always  worth  exactly  so  many  ounces  of 
silver,  as  far  as  those  metals  are  concerned,  no 
one  standard  of  value  would  be  required.  But 
we  have  no  security  that  the  ratio  of  increase  or 
diminution  in  the  two  cases  will  be  the  same. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


119 


The  discovery  of  a gold  or  silver  mine  might  at 
any  time  break  the  balance,  and  considerably 
diminish  the  value  of  one  in  relation  to  another. 
If,  then,  by  the  great  fruitfulness  of  existing 
mines,  or  the  discovery  of  new  ones,  the  quan- 
tity of  silver  in  circulation  were  doubled,  a dis- 
honest debtor,  by  discharging  his  liabilities  in 
silver,  might  cheat  his  creditors  out  of  one-half 
their  claims.  In  order  to  prevent  the  occurrence 
of  such  an  evil,  the  legislature  in  England  has 
constituted  gold  the  only  legal  tender  for  all 
payments  above  forty  shillings. 

The  currency  of  a country  is  that  portion  of 
its  capital  which  is  employed  solely  as  a medium 
of  exchange.  We  have  mentioned  reasons  which 
make  it  preferable;  that  metals  should  be  used 
as  a vehicle  of  exchange ; the  chief  of  which  is 
that  they  have  an  actual  worth  of  their  own,  a 
sovereign  not  only  indicating  value  to  the  amount 
of  twenty  shillings,  but  actually  possessing  it. 
There  are  serious  objections,  however,  to  an  ex- 
clusively metallic  currency,  arising  from  its  expen- 
siveness. It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  money, 
so  far  as  it  merely  serves  the  purpose  of  ex- 
change, bears  no  profit,  it  adds  nothing  to  the 
wealth  of  the  country,  it  serves  as  a passage  for 
commodities  from  one  person  to  another,  but  it 
does  nothing  more,  and  it  is  quite  open  to  inquiry 


120 


MONEY. 


whether  this  solitary  function  could  not  be  dis- 
charged in  a cheaper  way.  Assuming  the  cur- 
rency of  England  to  be  £50,000,000,  though 
the  probability  is  that  it  is  much  more,  its  an- 
nual worth  at  six  per  cent,  interest  is  three 
millions,  and  this  consequently  is  the  rent  we 
pay  for  the  use  of  a passage  for  the  transfer  of 
our  goods.  But  this  is  not  all  we  pay ; the  pre- 
cious metals,  though  very  durable,  are  yet  sus- 
ceptible of  wear  and  tear.  A process  of  tritura- 
tion is  continually  taking  place  in  the  transit  of 
money  from  hand  to  hand,  a palpable  proof  of 
which  we  have  in  the  smooth  appearance  of 
coins  which  have  been  a long  time  in  use.  Be- 
sides, a large  quantity  of  coin  is  frequently  lost 
by  fires  or  shipwreck.  It  would  be  a moderate 
estimate  to  set  down  the  diminution  of  the  cur- 
rency in  these  various  ways  at  half  a million 
annually,  which  fixes  the  yearly  cost  of  conduct- 
ing our  exchanges  through  the  medium  of  the 
precious  metals  at  three  and  a half  millions. 

One  of  the  advantages  of  banks,  considered 
as  public  institutions,  consists  in  their  lessening 
the  expense  of  maintaining  a metallic  currency 
without  any  detriment  to  its  great  advantages. 
By  their  help  a large  portion  of  what  constitutes 
the  floating  capital  of  the  country  is  employed 
in  remunerative  undertakings,  and  thus  increases 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


121 


the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  community.  With 
dealers  of  all  kinds  there  are  intervals,  sometimes 
considerable,  between  their  purchases.  If,  dur- 
ing these  periods,  their  money  were  locked  up 
in  a coffer,  it  would  be  of  no  service  either  to 
themselves  or  others.  But  if,  instead  of  remain- 
ing thus  inactive,  it  could  be  deposited  with 
some  person  who  would  give  security  to  pay  it 
again  on  demand,  it  might  be  made,  by  profitable 
employment,  to  bear  a high  interest,  which  would 
go  to  enrich  in  certain  proportions  the  owner  of 
the  money  and  the  person  to  whom  it  was  lent. 
Moreover,  if  this  person  was  generally  known  to 
be  a man  of  integrity  and  wealth,  one,  to  use  a 
familiar  but  expressive  saying,  whose  word  is 
as  good  as  his  bond,’^  the  money  might  be  left 
in  his  hand,  and  a written  promise  to  pay  it  on 
demand  might  enable  the  dealer  to  effect  his  pur- 
pose just  as  well.  This  supposed  case  illustrates 
the  theory  of  banking.  By  means  of  promis- 
sory notes,  issued  in  the  name  of  competent 
individuals,  a quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  equal 
to  their  aggregate  amount,  may  be  drawn  from 
circulation,  and  applied  to  the  productive  in- 
ter 3sts  of  the  country.  Thus,  not  only  the 
money  which  would  be  dead  stock  in  the  hands 
of  the  merchant  during  the  intervals  of  his  pur- 
chase, but  a large  portion  of  that  which  is  re- 


122 


MONEY, 


quired  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  nation, 
may  be  virtually  added  to  its  fixed  capital. 

The  gold  and  silver  money,”  says  Adam  Smith, 
‘‘  which  circulates  in  any  country,  may  be  com- 
pared to  a highway,  which,  while  it  circulates 
and  carries  to  market  all  the  grass  and  corn  of 
the  country,  itself  produces  not  a single  pile  of 
either.  The  judicious  operation  of  banking,  by 
providing,  if  I may  use  so  violent  a metaphor,  a 
sort  of  wagon-road  through  the  air,  enables  the 
country,  as  it  were,  to  convert  a great  part  of  its 
highways  into  pastures  and  corn-fields,  and 
thereby  to  increase  very  considerably  the  pro- 
duce of  its  land  and  labor.” 

Banks  appear  to  be  institutions  of  great  an- 
tiquity. Our  Lord’s  allusion,  in  his  parable  of 
the  talents,  to  the  neglect  of  the  slothful  servant, 
who  did  not  put  his  money  into  the  hank,  from 
which  it  might  have  been  received  with  usury, 
would  seem  to  favor  the  supposition,  if  the  words 
be  correctly  translated,  that  in  Judaea  banks  of 
some  kind  existed.  The  exchangers  of  money, 
also,  who  were  driven  from  the  temple,  seem  to 
have  been  a class  of  individuals  who  performed 
some  of  those  functions  which  bankers  now  ex- 
ercise. In  Greece,  the  public  were  in  the  habit  of 
committing  their  treasures  to  the  custody  of  one 
of  their  principal  temples,  which,  in  times  of  peril 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


123 


and  commotion,  was  respected  from  its  supposed 
sacred  character.  The  temple  of  Delphi  was  in 
this  manner  the  great  bank  of  Greece  before  the 
time  of  Homer,  and  seems  to  have  been  pro- 
verbial for  its  riches.  At  Athens,  also,  a flourish- 
ing trade  in  banking  appears  to  have  been  car- 
ried on ; and  a passage  occurs  in  the  writings  of 
Xenophon  which  would  seem  to  imply  that  the 
principles  on  which  joint-stock  banking  in  mod- 
ern times  is  conducted  were  not  entirely  un- 
known. At  Rome  bankers  existed  under  the 
terms  argentarii  and  numularii.  Some  of  these 
were  appointed  by  the  government  to  receive 
the  taxes;  others  carried  on  business  on  their 
own  account ; and  men  of  wealth  paid,  as  in  the 
present  day,  their  revenues  into  these  establish- 
ments, settling  their  accounts  with  their  creditors 
by  giving  a draft  or  check  on  the  bank.  During 
the  middle  ages  banking  was  conducted  not 
unskillfully  by  the  Venetians  and  the  Florentines. 
The  Bank  of  Venice  in  particular  had  for  many 
centuries  a European  celebrity,  and  was  imitated 
in  the  year  1609  by  the  Bank  of  Amsterdam, 
which,  for  two  centuries,  fostered  the  extensive 
commerce  of  Holland. 

The  business  of  banking,  in  the  modern  ac- 
ceptation of  the  term,  did  not  begin  in  England 
till  the  nuddle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It 


124 


MONEY. 


originated  with  the  goldsmiths  of  London,  who, 
in  addition  to  their  trade  in  bullion,  began  then 
both  to  borrow  and  lend  money.  In  the  former 
case  they  gave  receipts  for  the  money  intrusted 
to  their  care,  which  circulated  at  their  specified 
value,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  the  intro- 
duction of  bank-notes.  As  lenders,  they  nego- 
tiated chiefly  with  the  king,  to  whom  they  often 
advanced  the  amount  of  his  taxes  before  they 
could  be  collected,  thus  originating  a precedent 
which  was  afterward  followed  by  the  Bank  of 
England. 

The  Bank  of  England  is  the  largest  monetary 
establishment  in  the  world.  It  was  founded  in 
1694.  Though  really  a joint-stock  company,  it 
has  been  from  its  commencement  a national 
rather  than  a private  institution.  Its  origin  may 
be  called  political,  and  marks  a most  important 
crisis  in  the  modern  history  of  England.  The 
government  which  had  been  established  at  the 
Revolution  was  in  want  of  money.  Its  circum- 
stances were  critical,  and  therefore  its  credit 
poor.  The  idea  of  a large  banking  concern, 
under  state  patronage,  when  suggested  by  Mr. 
William  Patterson,  a Scotch  gentleman,  was 
favorably  received.  A charter  was  readily 
granted,  and  the  first  subscribed  capital,  amount- 
ing to  £1,200,000,  was  lent  to  government  at 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


125 


the  high  interest  of  eight  per  cent.  In  three 
years  after,  another  loan  of  more  than  a million 
was  made  to  government ; but  this  was  repaid  in 
1807.  Successive  loans,  however,  have  raised 
the  debt  on  the  part  of  government  to  the  bank 
to  more  than  eleven  millions — a monetary  proof 
that  its  stability  is  immeasurably  stronger  than 
that  of  its  poorer  predecessor  a century  and  a 
half  ago. 

By  an  act  of  Parliament,  passed  in  the  year 
1708,  no  firm  consisting  of  more  than  six  partners 
had  been  allowed  to  carry  on  the  business  of 
banking  in  England.  No  public  institution  arose 
in  consequence  to  compete  with  the  Bank  of 
England ; and,  for  a century  and  a quarter,  the 
monetary  business  of  the  couprtry  was  conducted 
by  that  establishment,  in  conjunction  with  a num- 
ber of  private  bankers.  The  large  and  extensive 
failures,  however,  which  had  taken  place  among 
the  latter,  led,  in  the  year  1826,  to  the  repeal  of 
the  law  of  1708,  and  banks  with  an  unlimited 
number  of  partners,  commonly  called  joint-stock 
banks,  were  allowed  to  be  established,  subject 
only  to  the  proviso  that  none  established  within 
sixty-five  miles  of  London  should  be  allowed  to 
issue  their  own  notes.  Banks  of  this  description 
had  been  opened  in  Scotland  cotemporaneously 
with  the  foundation  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and. 


126 


MONEY. 


by  the  prudence  of  their  management,  had  ob- 
tained the  confidence  of  the  country.  The  cir- 
cumstance which  gave  many  of  them  special 
security  was  the  fact  that  the  property  of  all  the 
shareholders  was  liable  for  all  the  engagements 
of  the  company. 

Early  in  the  present  century,  savings’  banks, 
intended  more  especially  for  the  benefit  of  the 
humbler  classes  of  society,  were  introduced,  re- 
ceiving deposits  of  sums  which  were  too  small  to 
be  lodged  in  other  establishments,  and  encouraged 
the  depositors  by  giving  a rate  of  interest  some- 
what higher  than  could  be  obtained  elsewhere. 
They  have  proved  of  great  advantage  to  the 
community,  having  been  the  means  of  introducing 
economy  and  providence  into  the  habits  of  the 
people,  improving  their  morals,  increasing  their 
means,  and  engaging  their  interest  in  the  support 
of  public  order. 

It  is  interesting  to  remark,  that  of  the  private 
banks  which  are  established  throughout  the 
country,  the  three  London  firms  of  Child’s, 
Hoare’s,  and  Snow’s,  are  even  older  than  the 
Bank  of  England.  The  number  of  private  banks 
in  London  in  1848  was  seventy-four ; and  the 
amount  of  money  transactions  carried  on  chiefly 
through  them  is  estimated  at  nearly  five  millions 
daily.  In  1840,  according  to  a pamphlet  on  the 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


121 


subject  by  the  late  Mr.  Leatliam,  of  Wakefield, 
the  returns  of  the  clearing-house,  an  establish- 
ment in  which  the  accounts  of  twenty- seven 
London  bankers  are  daily  balanced,  amounted  to 
the  enormous  sum  of  £975,000,000.’^ 

The  establishment  just  mentioned  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  exemplifications  of  the  system 
of  modern  banking.  It  was  set  on  foot  in  1770 
by  the  private  bankers,  and  is  intended  to  econ- 
omize both  money  and  labor  in  the  settlement 
of  their  mutual  accounts.  ‘‘  The  checks  and 
bills  of  exchange  on  the  authority  of  which  a 
great  part  of  the  money  paid  and  received  by 
bankers  is  exchanged,  are  taken  from  each  of 
the  clearing-bankers  to  the  clearing-house  sev- 
eral times  in  the  day,  and  the  checks  and  bills 
drawn  on  one  banker  are  canceled  by  those  he 
holds  on  others.”  Mr.  Tate,  in  his  System  of 
the  London  Bankers’  Clearances  Explained  and 
Exemplified,”  tells  us  that  ‘‘the  rapidity  with 
which  the  last  charges  require  to  be  entered, 
and  the  bustle  created  by  their  swift  distribution 
through  the  room,  are  difficult  to  be  conceived. 
It  is  when  on  the  point  of  striking  four,  and  on 
days  of  heavy  business,  that  the  beauty  of  the 
alphabetical  arrangement  of  the  clearer’s  desk  is 
to  be  seen.  All  the  distributors  are  moving  in 
the  same  direction  round  the  room,  with  no  fur- 


128 


MONEY. 


ther  interference  than  may  arise  from  the  more 
active  pressing  upon  or  outstripping  the  slower 
of  their  fellow-assistants.  With  equal  celerity 
are  their  last  credits  entered  by  their  clear - 
ers.  A minute  or  two  having  passed,  all  the 
noise  has  ceased.  The  deputy-clearers  have 
left  with  the  last  charges  on  their  houses  ; the 
clearers  are  silently  occupied  in  casting  up  the 
amounts  of  the  accounts  in  their  books,  balanc- 
ing them,  and  entering  the  differences  in  their 
balance-sheets,  until  at  length  announcements 
begin  to  be  heard  of  the  probable  amounts  to 
be  received  or  paid  as  a preparation  for  the  final 
settlement.  The  four  o’clock  balances  having 
been  entered  in  the  balance-sheet,  each  clearer 
goes  round  to  check  and  mark  off  his  accounts 
with  the  rest,  with  ' I charge  you,  or  ‘ I credit 
you,’  according  as  each  balance  is  in  his  favor  or 
against  him.” 

In  the  banking  system  of  a mercantile  com- 
munity we  reach  the  highest  possible  point  of 
refinement  in  the  medium  of  exchange.  What 
a contrast  is  presented,  for  example,  between 
those  bars  of  gold  which  were  weighed  to  the 
merchant  in  ancient  times,  and  the  modern  bank 
note ! How  clumsy  the  one  ! what  a triumph 
of  ingenuity  and  skill  the  other ! They  may  be 
taken,  not  inappropriately,  as  the  respective 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


129 


symbols  of  barbarism  and  civilization.  Let  the 
reader  take  a five-pound  Bank  of  England  note, 
and  attentively  examine  it.  Mark  its  thinness ; 
the  finest  writing  paper  is  clumsy  when  compared 
with  it.  Hold  it  up  to  the  light,  and  it  is  almost 
transparent.  But  though  so  thin,  it  is  neverthe- 
less characterized  by  a roughness  of  texture 
which  alone  would  enable  an  experienced  clerk 
to  test  the  genuineness  of  notes  passing  through 
his  hand  as  rapidly  as  another  could  count  them. 
Next  we  have  the  water-mark.  This  is  incorpo- 
rated in  the  very  texture  of  the  paper,  and  is  ef- 
fected by  a certain  arrangement  of  wires  in  the 
mold  in  which  the  pulp  is  taken  up.  No  art 
has  ever  yet  been  able  to  counterfeit  the  beveled 
edges  which  distinguish  three  sides  of  every 
Bank  of  England  note.  Here,  if  nowhei’e  else, 
the  plans  of  the  forger  are  sure  to  suffer  ship- 
wreck. ''No  one  can  have  failed  to  remark  the 
exceeding  strength  of  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of 
England.  The  wear  they  are  capable  of  endur- 
ing is  astonishing.  For  the  purpose  of  accu- 
mulating the  strain  to  which  a note  in  circulation 
is  liable,  so  as  to  represent  in  one  quality  its 
power  of  resisting  tension,  we  may  secure  the 
edges  of  a piece  of  banking  paper  of  the  size 
and  figure  of  a note,  and  then  load  its  surface. 
Such  a piece  of  paper  weighs,  before  sizing,  sev- 
9 


130 


MONEY. 


enteen  and  a-half  grains,  and  in  this  state  it  will 
support,  without  tearing,  a weight  of  thirty-six 
pounds.  The  size  subsequently  added  weighs 
one  grain,  and  its  addition  enables  the  note  to 
sustain  a strain  of  twenty  pounds  more,  or,  in  all 
fifty-six  pounds, — half  a hundred -weight.’’'^ 

But  great  as  is  the  difference  between  the 
rude  ingots  which  formerly  constituted  the  only 
medium  of  traffic,  and  the  modern  bank-note,  the 
moral  sentiments  they  seem  respectively  to  em- 
body present  us  with  a still  wider  contrast.  In 
this  light,  bullion  is  the  emblem  of  barbarism,  and 
paper  of  civilization.  The  one  reminds  us  of 
suspicion  and  distrust ; we  see  the  merchant 
carefully  guarding  his  goods  till  he  has  secured 
the  golden  equivalent,  refusing  to  part  with  a 
single  article  till  he  has  deposited  in  his  coffers 
a tangible  quid  pro  quo.  Imagine  the  Ishmaelites 
who  carried  spices  into  Egypt  offering  the  sons 
of  Jacob  a promissory  note ! How  punctually 
would  such  a bond  have  been  honored  by  the 
lawless  coursers  of  the  desert ! It  is  civilization 
alone,  as  exhibited  in  the  ascendency  of  law  and 
honor,  which  gives  to  written  engagements  a 
current  value;  and  when  we  find  a merchant 
willing  to  empty  his  warehouse  in  return  for  a 

Lectures  on  The  Manufacture  of  Bank  of  En- 
gland Notes, by  Rev.  J.  Barlow,  M.  A. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


131 


scrap  of  paper,  we  feel  that  the  world  must 
have  advanced  immensely  in  the  practice  of  po- 
litical and  social  virtues. 

The  history  of  bank-notes  is  an  exceedingly 
curious  one.  In  all  probability  the  bill  of  ex- 
change was  their  predecessor,  and  suggested 
their  use.  By  the  former  document,  a person 
who  wished  to  transmit  money  to  a distance 
was  enabled  to  do  so  on  procuring  an  order 
from  a merchant,  drawn  upon  another  merchant 
residing  at  or  near  the,  place  where  the  money 
was  to  be  paid.  When  it  was  found,  however, 
that  an  easy  and  portable  order  of  this  kind 
could  be  obtained,  the  man  possessing  it,  if  he 
was  satisfied  of  the  responsibility  of  the  individ- 
uals by  whom  the  bill  was  signed,  would  prefer 
retaining  it  rather  than  encumber  himself  with 
specie,  of  which  he  might  be  plundered.  He 
would  in  time,  perhaps,  pay  away  the  document 
to  others,  and  they  too,  if  they  were  satisfied 
with  the  names  upon  it,  might  prefer  holding  it 
instead  of  specie,  until  it  suited  their  conven- 
ience to  demand  payment  of  it.  That  this  was 
the  precursor  of  our  bank-note  system  is  proved 
indeed  by  inspecting  some  of  the  first  bills  of 
exchange  issued  by  the  Bank  of  England,  which 
appear  to  have  passed  from  hand  to  hand  in  the 
manner  above-described,  and  to  have  supplied 


132 


MONEY. 


the  place  of  the  regular  bank-note.  In  some  of 
the  manufacturing  districts  of  England,  indeed, 
at  the  present  day,  bills  of  exchange,  instead  of 
being  kept  till  due,  still  perform  the  part  of  a 
circulating  medium,  and  supply  to  a considera- 
ble extent  the  office  of  bank-notes. 

Bank-notes  appear  to  have  been  known  in 
China  long  before  they  were  introduced  into  Eu- 
rope.^ It  appears  that,  B.  C.  119,  to  meet  the 
increased  revenues  of  the  State,  skin  notes  were 
introduced  by  a skillful  Chinese  minister  of 
finance,  being  pieces  of  leather  made  from  the 
skins  of  white  deer  bred  in  a park  round  the 
royal  palace.  At  a later  period,  notes  made 
from  the  bark  of  the  paper  mulberry  were  also 
in  extensive  circulation  in  China.  In  England, 
those  issued  by  the  Bank  of  England  seem  to 
have  been  the  first  bank-notes,  properly  so-called, 
of  which  we  have  any  trace.  No  fixed  amount 
appears  to  have  been  determined  on,  as  the  min- 
imum or  maximum  of  each  note.  Some  years 

In  a number  of  the  “ Chinese  Repository/^  for 
June,  1851,  an  interesting  description  of  a modern 
Chinese  note  is  given.  It  is  stated  to  be  rather  larger 
than  a Bank  of  England  note — is  printed  on  stout  pa- 
per made  from  the  bamboo — and  is  covered  with  vari- 
ous stamps,  seals,  and  written  characters,  to  prevent 
forgery. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


133 


ago,  indeed,  the  newspapers  of  the  day  stated 
that  a note  for  sixpence,  issued  more  than  a hun- 
dred years  ago  at  a time  when  there  was  a great 
scarcity  of  copper  coinage,  was  discovered  and 
presented  at  the  bank.  For  a long  period,  how- 
ever, a pound  was  the  lowest  sum  for  which 
notes  were  issued ; but  at  present,  except  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  no  note  of  a less  amount 
than  five  pounds  can  be  put  forth. ^ 

Great  as  are  the  advantages  of  a paper  cur- 
rency, yet  it  is  not  without  some  serious  draw- 
backs, for  at  various  periods  individuals  and  es- 
tablishments issuing  bank-notes  have  done  so  to 
a greater  extent  than  they  had  the  means  of 
easily  paying  in  gold.  In  1792,  1814,  1815, 
1816,  1825,  and  1826,  England  sustained,  from 
the  failures  of  private  banking  establishments, 
an  amount  of  bankruptcy  and  misery  that  has 
never  perhaps  been  equaled,  except  by  the 
breaking  up  of  the  Mississippi  scheme  in  France. 
(McCulloch's  Commercial  Die." — Art.,  Banks,) 
In  the  year  1797  the  Bank  of  England  itself 
was  placed  by  government  in  circumstances 
which  led  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  passa- 

Visitors  are  shown  in  the  Bank  of  England  a can- 
celed note  for  one  million  of  pounds  sterling.  It  ap- 
pears to  have  been  used  in  the  transactions  between 
the  Bank  and  the  government. 


134 


MONEY. 


ges  in  monetary  history.  The  war  with  France 
had  produced  a great  scarcity  of  money,  and  dis- 
trust having  extensively  prevailed,  apprehensions 
were  entertained  that  the  Bank,  if  hard  pressed, 
might  itself  be  unable  to  meet  its  engage- 
ments. Parliament,  however,  having  investiga- 
ted its  affairs,  and  found  that  it  possessed  prop- 
erty to  the  extent  of  nearly  sixteen  millions,  the 
Bank  Restriction  Act  was  passed,  the  effect  of 
which  was  that  the  public  had  not  the  power,  if 
they  wished,  of  demanding  gold  in  exchange  for 
Bank  of  England  notes.  For  the  first  three 
years  after  the  passing  of  this  Act  the  issues  of 
the  Bank  were  so  moderate  that  the  notes  not 
only  kept  on  a par  with  gold,  but  actually  bore 
a small  premium.  In  1810,  however,  they  had 
been  issued  to  such  an  extent  that  they  were  dis- 
counted at  thirteen  per  cent.,  that  is,  if  a party 
required  a hundred  sovereigns  to  send  out  of 
England,  he  would  have  been  obliged  to  have 
paid  for  them  one  hundred  and  thirteen  Bank  of 
England  one-pound  notes.  Many  attempts  were 
made  to  prevent  this  depreciation,  but  they 
proved  ineffectual.  In  1819  Sir  Robert,  then 
Mr.  Peel,  brought  into  Parliament  a bill,  repeal- 
ing the  Bank  Restriction  Act,  and  rendering  it 
compulsory  on  the  Bank  of  England  to  pay  its 
notes  in  gold  upon  demand.  This  act  did  not. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


135 


however,  take  effect  till  1821.  Great  distress 
followed  the  readjustment  of  the  currency,  and 
extensive  failures  also  took  place. 

In  consequence  of  the  disasters  more  or  less 
attributable  to  a paper  currency,  various  reme- 
dies have  been  proposed  by  financial  writers  to 
obviate  them.  By  sohie,  the  power  to  issue 
notes  has  been  proposed  to  be  limited  to  one 
bank  established  by  government,  whose  respon- 
sibility would  be  undoubted ; but  to  this  it  has 
been  replied,  that  such  an  establishment  would 
speedily  become  an  instrument  of  political  op- 
pression, and  in  times  of  panic  and  public  calam- 
ity would  cause,  in  the  event  of  public  credit 
being  assailed,  universal  disaster — a result  which 
would  be  avoided  were  the  power  of  issuing 
notes  left,  as  at  present,  to  several  establish- 
ments, all  of  whom  would  be  unlikely  to  suspend 
payment  at  one  time.  By  other  economists  it 
has  been  proposed  that  banks  should  be  made 
to  lodge  with  government  security  for  their 
notes  issued,  so  that  the  public  might  be  thus 
protected.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  however,  by  his 
celebrated  bill  of  1844,  took  the  most  important 
step  which  had  perhaps  ever  been  adopted  in 
reference  to  the  currency  question  in  England. 
With  a view  to  prevent  the  excessive  over-issue 
of  notes,  it  was  enacted  that  the  existing  banks 


136 


MONEY. 


should  not  in  future  issue  notes  beyond  the 
amount  which  they  had,  on  an  average,  in  cir- 
culation at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  act. 
The  total  amount  of  notes  which  could  be  issued 
by  all  the  establishments  in  the  country  was 
eventually  limited  as  follows  : — 


Bank  of  England £14,000,000'^ 

Joint-Stock  Banks 5,009,020 

Private  Banks  in  England 3,469,872 

Banks  in  Scotland 3,087,209 

Banks  in  Ireland 6,354,494 


The  policy  of  this  celebrated  measure  of  Sir 
Eobert  Peel  has  been  disputed  by  many.  Its 
inconvenience  was  certainly  evinced  during  the 
year  1847,  when  the  Bank  of  England  having 
reached  its  full  power  of  issue,  a panic  ensued, 
which  was  only  relieved  upon  the  government 
permitting  the  Bank  to  issue  notes,  if  needful, 
beyond  the  amount  fixed  by  law.  Desirable  as 

These  amounts  are  extracted  from  the  “ Bankers^ 
Magazine”  for  1846.  The  amount  of  the  Private 
Banks  and  Joint-Stock  Banks'  issue  is  now  perhaps 
somewhat  less,  as  some  banks  have  since  the  date  of 
the  return  withdrawn  from  business. 

The  Bank  of  England,  in  addition  to  its  £14,000,000 
of  circulation,  can  also  issue  when  necessary  to  an 
unlimited  extent,  provided,  to  meet  such  additional 
issue,  it  has  in  its  coffers  four-fifths  of  gold  and  one- 
fifth  of  silver. 


MONEY  CURRENT. 


137 


it  is  to  avoid  all  injurious  excesses  of  paper  cur- 
rency, it  is  held  by  the  opponents  of  Sir  Robertas 
measure  that  it  is  neither  desirable  nor  safe  to 
restrict  the  credit  operations  of  a large  commer- 
cial country  within  fixed  limits  ; and  that,  by 
thus  contracting  within  certain  artificial  bounds 
the  power  of  banks  to  assist  their  customers,  an 
injury  is  done  to  the  progress  of  the  community. 
These  writers  also  contend  that  the  tendency  of 
banks  to  issue  an  undue  quantity  of  notes  is  suf- 
ficiently counteracted  by  the  certainty  with  which 
notes  so  issued  fall  into  the  hands  of  other  banks, 
by  whom  payment  of  them  is  demanded  in  gold. 
Communities,  like  individuals,  it  is  likewise  al- 
leged, must  be  taught  in  the  selection  of  banks  or 
bank-notes  to  exercise  that  care  and  vigilance 
which  protects  them  in  ordinary  matters  ; for 
governments,  as  it  has  been  well  observed,  may 
nurse,  by  undue  legislation,  nations  into  a state  of 
weakness.  There  is,  perhaps,  a peculiar  danger 
of  this  in  a matter  like  the  currency,  which  is  of  a 
nature  so  intricate  as  to  be  understood  by  com- 
paratively a small  number  of  those  interested  in  its 
due  regulation.  Whatever  be  the  truth  of  these 
views,  it  must  be  admitted  that,  when  the  magni- 
tude of  interests  involved  is  considered,  too  much 
care  cannot  be  taken  to  place  upon  a solid  foun- 
dation the  banking  institutions  of  a country. 


138 


MONEY. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY  I THE  FALLACIES  AND 
FAILINGS  OF  MONIED  MEN. 

Hitherto  we  have  contemplated-  money  from 
an  exclusively  secular  point  of  view  ; we  now 
proceed  to  view  it  under  the  higher  aspect  of  its 
moral  and  spiritual  relations.  This  is  no  arbi- 
trary change  of  topic  — no  piece  of  finesse, 
adopted  in  order  to  surprise  the  reader  into  a 
sermon,  but  the  ascent  of  a natural  climax. 
Everything  on  earth  points  to  eternity ; every 
object,  every  pursuit,  has  its  spiritual  side — -that 
on  which  it  adjoins  the  soul,  and  silently  works 
itself  into  its  immortal  texture.  God  has  attached 
to  every  condition  in  life  its  own  set  of  influences. 
Everything  we  see  or  do,  or  think  or  say,  has  a 
moral  power  attached  to  it : our  talents,  oppor- 
tunities, privileges,  joys ; our  daily  tasks,  duties, 
trials  ; the  hopes,  anxieties,  disappointments,  and 
successes  of  business  ; the  annoyances  and  irrita- 
tions of  the  world,  the  temptations  to  sin,  and 
the  incentives  to  holiness  which  surround  our 
path  ; the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  our 
social  position ; our  soberest  reflections,  our  most 
mirthful  sallies,  our  very  fancies  and  day-dreams, 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


139 


— all  are  laden  with  lasting  results,  all  are  silently- 
exerting  some  influence  on  our  everlasting  state. 
Yes,  ETERNITY  is  scen  as  a divine  handwriting  on 
everything  that  meets  the  eye — on  the  exchange, 
the  factory,  and  the  warehouse,  as  well  as  the 
temple  and  the  tomb. 

Here  is  an  article  of  faith  of  which  most  men 
need  to  be  more  heartily  convinced.  It  is  the 
chief  point  in  the  practical  creed  of  life.  The 
worldly  principle  in  human  nature  loves  to 
separate  time  from  eternity — loves  to  view  this 
world  and  the  next  as  two  entirely  separate 
spheres,  having  no  vital  connection  with  each 
other.  We  speak  with  horror,  and  justly  so,  of 
infidelity — that  which  denies  the  Bible,  looks 
upon  the  soul  as  mortal,  or  merely  as  a part  of 
the  Infinite,  and  questions  the  evidence  of  a per- 
sonal Deity.  Such  sentiments  are  dark  and 
sinful  beyond  measure,  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  they  are  more  mischievous  to  the  interests 
of  Christianity  than  that  poisonous  skepticism 
which  so  many  cherish  without  misgiving ; that 
which  practically  denies  the  presence  and  claims 
of  God  in  the  business  of  daily  life,  which  views 
wealth  as  exclusively  of  the  individual’s  own 
getting,  to  be  placed  at  the  beck  of  selfishness 
or  caprice,  without  a single  remonstrance  of  con- 
science for  the  neglect  of  any  obligation,  whether 


140 


MONEY. 


to  God  or  man.  Such  infidelity  is  truly  a bane 
to  the  soul,  a canker  to  the  Church,  and  a curse 
to  the  world. 

If,  as  we  have  shown  in  previous  pages,  there 
is  a very  powerful  tendency  in  society,  according 
to  its  natural  constitution  as  founded  by  the 
Creator,  to  become  richer,  we  cannot  imagine 
that  riches  are  unavoidably  and  necessarily 
hostile  to  virtue.  This  would  be  to  impeach  the 
moral  character  of  the  divine  government.  The 
evils  of  riches  must  therefore  lie  in  the  mode  in 
which  they  are  gained  or  used.  Every  tendency 
which  is  necessarily  developed  in  social  progress 
must  be  favorable  to  the  spiritual  interests  of 
mankind.  Poverty  has  often  been  lauded  as  the 
state  which  is  most  propitious  to  the  moral  ex- 
cellence of  individuals  and  communities;  yet 
everybody  shuns  poverty,  everybody  is  so  con- 
stituted that  he  naturally  wishes  to  escape  it,  and 
the  direct  effect  of  prudence,  industry,  and  their 
kindred  virtues,  is  to  accumulate  wealth.  On 
this  ground  alone  we  might  pronounce  before- 
hand with  the  most  absolute  certainty,  that 
poverty  has  no  peculiar  patent  . for  goodness,  and 
that  growth  in  wealth  does  not  necessarily  in- 
volve a deterioration  of  the  moral  character. 
The  great  empires  of  antiquity  are  often  adduced 
in  supposed  confirmation  of  an  opposite  view. 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


141 


We  are  told  of  the  virtues  which  marked  the  in- 
fancy, as  contrasted  with  the  universal  de- 
generacy of  manners  that  characterized  the 
meridian  of  the  Roman  empire.  But  the  refer- 
ence is  .useless.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  Rome  of  Romulus  could 
be  taken  as  a higher  exemplar  of  public  virtue 
than  the  Rome  of  Caesar.  Its  vices  were  of  a 
different  kind,  but  they  were  vices  still.  If  it  is 
lawful  to  discern  anything  substantial  among  the 
shadows  of  Livy,  we  fhay  find  in  the  very  earliest 
period  of  the  Roman  state  innumerable  traces  of 
injustice,  violence,  and  sensuality,  which  have  no 
point  of  contrast,  save  that  of  coarseness,  with 
those  moral  enormities  which  afterward  distin- 
guished the  capital  of  the  world.  But  the  vices 
of  imperial  Rome  must  not  be  ascribed  to  its 
wealth;  they  are  due  rather  to  the  mode  in 
which  its  wealth  was  acquired,  and  the  depraved 
habits  which  were  connected  with  it.  Its  wealth 
was  the  fruit  of  conquest ; it  was  the  spoiling  of 
the  nations,  not  tlie  self-elaborated  product  of 
capital  and  industry.  It  was  acquired  in  a way 
which  developed  the  sensual  and  destructive 
passions,  and  thus  excavated  a mine  beneath, 
which  at  length  blew  the  empire  into  atoms. 
Wealth,  when  acquired  by  manufactures  and 
commerce,  always  presupposes  the  actual  exer- 


142 


MONEY. 


cise  of  a large  amount  of  useful  qualities ; and 
the  discipline  which  must  be  submitted  to  in  its 
acquisition,  especially  when  seconded  by  the  in- 
fluence of  religipn,  affords,  within  certain  limits, 
a guarantee  for  continued  moral  improvement. 
It  may  be  almost  affirmed  that  commercial  afflu- 
ence can  neither  be  gained  nor  kept  by  a people 
socially  corrupt.  Empires  which  owed  their 
greatness  to  conquest  often  sank  beneath  their 
own  weight ; but  there  is,  probably,  no  instance 
in  which  a great  commercial  state  has  fallen 
through  the  enervating  influence  of  pomp  and 
luxury.  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  like  Rome  in 
after  times,  were  the  product  of  successful  war, 
and  fell  with  the  empires  whose  greatness  they 
represented.  Tyre,  the  mercantile  metropolis  of 
the  ancient  world,  was  twice  permitted  by  Provi- 
dence, as  a punishment  for  its  pride,  to  be  sub- 
dued by  powerful  invaders ; but  so  far  was  it 
from  falling  to  pieces  in  consequence  of  internal 
decay,  that  after  its  overthrow  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar the  energy  of  its  inhabitants  soon  restored 
it  to  its  former  grandeur,  and  enabled  it  to  hold 
out  for  seven  months  against  the  conquering 
arms  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Its  sins  were 
selfishness  and  pride,  the  besetting  sins  of  the 
strong ; the  besetting  sins,  may  we  not  fear,  of 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  this  the  era  of 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


143 


their  greatest  power,  and  which,  unless  our 
wealth  and  greatness  are  sanctified  to  objects  of 
benevolence  and  piety,  will  draw  upon  us  a 
chastisement  no  less  signal  than  that  of  Tyre  of 
old. 

Not  only  is  wealth  not  necessarily  hostile  to 
piety,  but  it  is  in  some  respects  decidedly  pro- 
pitious to  its  growth.  It  affords  room  for 
gratitude,  furnishes  themes  for  thankful  praise, 
enables  the  mind  to  acquiesce  in  the  divine 
goodness,  without  those  gigantic  efforts  of  faitn 
which  are  necessary  to  recognize  his  blessings 
when  sent  to  us  "in  the  guise  of  adversity,  and 
thus  makes  it  an  easier  task  to  wave  the  censer 
of  thankfulness  before  the  seat  of  mercy.  It 
places  us  in  a position  more  favorable  for  the 
formation  of  impartial  views  respecting  the  char- 
acter of  God’s  providential  economy,  inasmuch 
as  it  tends  to  drive  from  the  horizon  of  our  ex- 
perience those  dark  clouds  through  which  we 
are  in  danger  of  viewing  every  portion  of  the 
universe.  By  rendering  the  heart  more  joyous, 
it  gives  room  for  the  growth  of  qualities  which 
are  often  crushed  by  poverty — kindliness,  confi- 
dence, general  sympathy,  faith  in  the  beneficent 
tendency  of  the  divine  arrangements.  Beside, 
money  will  purchase  books,  scientific  instruments, 
and  professional  aid — thus  promoting  the  work 


144 


MONEY. 


of  self-improvement ; while  the  freedom  it  brings 
from  those  solicitudes  which  relate  to  the  first 
necessities  of  life,  afford  more  leisure  for  the 
cultivation  of  pursuits  which  are  not  earthly.  It 
will  not  be  disputed  that  these  are  points  in 
which  the  wealthy  man  has  a decided  advantage 
over  his  poorer  neighbor,  and  this  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  social  condition  to  which  mankind 
are  being  wafted  by  the  gales  of  industry  is  as 
friendly  to  moral  excellence  as  it  is  undoubtedly 
to  physical  enjoyment. 

The  moral  evils  of  wealth  are,  we  may  further 
observe,  greater  in  a poor  than  a rich  country, 
and  will  continually  diminish  as  wealth  itself 
becomes  more  diffused.  Diminish  the  distance 
between  the  various  members  of  society  ; render 
refinement,  elegance,  and  plenty  common  things  ; 
make  gold,'’  to  give  a figurative  sense  to  the 
literal  description  which  the  historian  gives  us 
of  the  greatness  of  Solomon,  “ as  plenteous  as 
stones,  and  cedar- trees  as  the  sycamore- trees  for 
abundance,"  and  you  diminish  their  corrupting 
power.  There  is  no  necessary  connection  be- 
tween wealth  and  sensual  indulgence.  Among 
our  most  affluent  merchants  we  might  find  the 
hardest  workers,  the  clearest,  firmest,  manliest 
minds  in  the  whole  community  ; and  though  the 
person  who  merely  enjoys  the  wealth  which  has 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


146 


been  handed  down  to  him  from  his  ancestors, 
without  knowing  anything  of  the  wholesome 
discipline  of  acquisition,  is  more  exposed  to  the 
enervating  influence  of  luxury,  how  many  could 
be  pointed  out  among  the  noblest  and  richest 
members  of  our  aristocracy  who  use  their  prop- 
erty with  a master’s  hand,  remaining  themselves 
vigorous  and  incorrupt,  presenting  such  a blend- 
ing of  elegance  and  severity  as  no  age  or 
country  has  produced  in  greater  perfection  than 
our  own. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  two 
wealthiest  nations  of  the  world  are  those  in  which 
religion  is  most  powerful  as  an  element  of  social 
life.  England  and  the  United  States  are  the  two 
most  Protestant  countries  on  the  globe ; in  them 
the  Bible  is  free,  the  preacher  of  the  gospel 
moves  unfettered,  piety  is  welcomed  to  the  do- 
mestic hearth,  and  joins  with  learning  and  sci- 
ence in  shedding  there  her  benignant  lustre ; 
philanthropic  institutions  rear  their  heads,  and, 
like  the  tree  of  life,  extend  their  healing  shadow 
over  the  human  race : yet  these  countries  stand 
highest  in  point  of  wealth,  and  their  wealthiest 
citizens  furnish  the  Christian  Church  with  some 
of  its  most  enlightened  and  devoted  members. 
In  both  countries,  moreover,  the  growth  of 
woaltl  has  been  unprecedentedly  rapid.  Never 
10 


146 


MONEY. 


before  in  the  history  of  the  world  was  so  vast 
an  accumulation  gathered  in  so  short  a time.  If 
wealth  is  necessarily  unfriendly  to  religion,  we 
might  have  expected  that  the  latter  would  have 
been  overwhelmed  ere  this  by  a flood  of  worldli- 
ness— that  every  trace  of  spiritual  verdure  would 
have  become  extinct.  Instead  of  this  we  have 
beheld  during  the  same  period  a re  visual  of  vital 
godliness  which  has  kept  pace  with  our  social 
improvement.  Our  missionary  institutions,  Bible 
and  Tract  Societies,  have  all  commenced  since 
we  began  our  money-making  career.  Buildings, 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  God  and  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  rising  race,  have  sprung  up  by  thou- 
sands in  our  manufacturing  districts,  and  the 
town  whose  name  is  most  prominently  associated 
with  an  order  of  things  which  has  been  ignorant- 
ly reviled  as  an  economy  of  selfishness  and  irre- 
ligion,  recently  gave  a manifestation  of  Christian 
benevolence  which  the  world  could  not  rival. 
Yes,  the  historian  of  the  nineteenth  century  will 
not  forget  to  relate  that  when  Queen  Victoria 
visited  that  part  of  her  dominions,  Manchester 
assembled  from  beneath  the  shadows  of  its  fac- 
tories seventy  thousand  Sunday-school  children, 
and  ten  thousand  teachers,  all  bound  together 
by  a simply  religious  tie,  and  presenting  an  un- 
answerable proof  that  the  acquisition  of  wealth 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEYc  147 

may  be  associated  with  an  enlightened  and  prac- 
tical piety. 

But  wealth,  though  not  necessarily  hostile  to 
piety,  has  nevertheless  its  special  dangers,  its 
besetting  fallacies  and  besetting  sins,  justifying 
those  solemn  warnings  to  its  possessors  which 
are  scattered  through  the  word  of  God.  With 
a friendly  hand  we  will  endeavor  to  lay  open  a 
few  of  both  classes  to  the  notice  of  the  reader. 
One  of  the  fallacies  of  wealth  consists  in  giving 
too  uniformly  a moral  character  to  the  successes 
and  reverses  of  life — in  tacitly  regarding  riches 
as  a virtue,  and  poverty  as  a crime.  Now  we 
admit  that  the  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich, 
and  that  the  drunkard  and  the  glutton  shall  come 
to  poverty ; but  riches  may  sometimes  proceed 
from  other  causes  than  diligence,  and  poverty 
may  not  always  have  had  the  antecedents  of 
drunkenness  and  gluttony.  Poverty,  it  is  also 
true,  may  often  be  traced  up  to  moral  causes 
which  throw  the  entire  responsibility  upon  the 
individual  who  is  the  subject  of  it.  How  many 
persons  who  are  now  in  utter  destitution  might 
have  lived  in  competence  if  they  had  only  been 
prudent  and  industrious  at  the  outset  of  their 
career ! They  look  with  envy  upon  successful 
men,  and  talk  as  though  some  malignant  destiny 
kept  them  down,  forgetting  that  their  own  fail- 


148 


MONEY. 


ure  may  be  justly  attributed  to  themselves. 
Neglecting  to  ‘‘  stir  up”  their  peculiar  talents, 
to  develop  their  mental  powers,  to  seize  every 
opportunity  of  advancement,  and  to  make  those 
sacrifices  which  were  demanded  by  a regard  to 
their  permanent  welfare,  some  individuals  revolve 
perpetually  round  the  starting-post  of  life,  in- 
stead of  making  a vigorous  and  determined  ef- 
fort to  reach  the  goal.  In  such  cases  poverty 
is  a fault,  and  the  inconveniences  it  brings  may 
justly  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a retribution. 
But  how  many  exceptions  do  we  find  to  this 
rule  ! The  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor 
the  battle  to  the  strong ; the  lot  is  cast  into  the 
lap,  but  the  whole  disposing  thereof  is  of  the 
Lord.  We  perform  but  a humble  part  in  the 
economy  of  life.  It  is  ours  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity, but  who  gives  it  ? We  must  recognize 
here  a mightier  Hand  ? Every  person  who  has 
attained  success  is  able  to  recall  many  circum- 
stances which  favored  his  rise,  without  which, 
for  anything  he  can  see,  the  strength  of  a Her- 
cules would  have  been  in  vain.  At  best  he  has 
been  only  a co-worker.  If  he  has  contributed 
one  element,  God  has  contributed  far  more.  But 
he  is  less  even  than  this  ; since  those  very  talents 
which  enabled  him  to  lay  open  his  sails  so  as  to 
catch  the  propitious  influences  of  wind  and 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


149 


weather  came  down  from  the  Father  of  lights, 
whose  goodness  to  him  is  but  ill  repaid  by  in- 
dulging in  judicial  severity  toward  those  to 
whom  those  talents  have  been  denied. 

Another  fallacy  into  which  wealth  is  apt  to 
betray  us,  is  that  of  making  it  a virtual  synonym 
of  respectability.  A respectable  man,’’  in  the 
language  of  some,  is  apt  to  mean  one  who  com- 
mands so  much  money.  A reference  to  charac- 
ter is  included  in  the  definition,  but  only  to  a 
trivial  extent.  In  forming  our  estimate,  the  first 
idea  which  presents  itself  is  that  of  his  being 
well  to  do the  second,  that  of  his  possessing 
a certain  measure  of  excellence.  It  is  to  be  fear- 
ed that  thousands  give  this  second  idea  a very 
feeble  recognition.  Their  ordinary  conception  of 
respectability  rises  no  higher  than  an  elegant 
mansion,  and  goes  no  deeper  than  a suit  of  rich 
clothing.  Perhaps  no  association  which  links 
two  thoughts  together  is  absolutely  unreasonable, 
and  in  the  instances  before  us  it  is  easy  to  trace 
the  process  of  silent  argumentation  by  which 
we  apply  the  epithet  respectable”  to  the  mon- 
eyed man.  Generally  speaking,  qualities  which 
are  truly  respectable  produce  money.  We  have 
seen  how  directly  intelligence,  sobriety,  and  the 
cycle  of  kindred  virtues  tend  to  affluence.  This 
has  been  observed  through  many  ages,  and  man- 


150 


MONKT. 


kind,  transferring  to  the  effect  that  which  prop- 
erly belongs  to  the  cause,  constitute  affluence  it- 
self an  object  of  respect.  Another  consideration 
must  enter  into  an  impartial  solution.  Mankind 
worship  power.  To  this,  under  whatever  form 
embodied,  all  bend  the  knee.  But  money  is 
power ; there  is  nothing  which  money  will  not 
purchase,  and  he  who  can  command  an  unlimit- 
ed supply  is  clothed  with  a kind  of  social  om- 
nipotence. These  grounds  of  respect  should  be 
duly  recognized ; but  there  is  one  far  brighter, 
one  which  is  independent  of  outward  condition, 
and  may  be  found  within  a mud  cottage  as  well 
as  in  a royal  palace.  Goodness  alone  has  a sov- 
ereign title  to  respect.  In  God  this  attribute 
becomes  sublime,  the  very  radiance  of  his  ineffa- 
ble splendor  ; to  him  accordingly  we  owe  abso- 
lute homage,  and  wherever  we  behold  the  faint- 
est reflection  of  it  in  human  character  our  hearts 
should  meet  it  with  love  and  reverence.  The 
highest  esteem  should  be  grounded  entirely  on 
moral  and  spiritual  worth,  and  of  this  money  is 
no  test  whatever.  A person  may  be  hypocriti- 
cal, selfish,  profligate,  and  yet  rich  ; and  another 
sincere,  disinterested,  godly,  and  yet  poor.  All 
those  qualities  which  entitle  to  respect  may  be 
found  without  money,  and  all  those  which  de- 
serve to  be  branded  with  execration  may  be 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


151 


found  with  it.  If  we  are  about  to  enter  upon 
some  great  commercial  enterprise,  a person  who 
can  place  a large  sum  of  money  at  our  disposal 
is  of  course  entitled  to  more  consideration  than 
one  who  is  not  possessed  of  a shilling ; but 
when  the  question  is,  Whom  shall  we  pronounce 
respectable  whom  shall  we  inwardly  honor  ? 
we  must  add  no  other  principle,  we  must  look 
at  the  man  himself.  If  the  excellent  of  the  earth 
were  to  be  gathered  together  and  ranged  pro- 
miscuously before  our  eyes,  we  should  probably 
see  represented  to  us  in  garb  and  manners  every 
social  and  professional  variety  of  the  human 
race ; but  to  the  eye  of  God,  who  seeth  not  as 
man  seeth,  all  would  be  alike  beautiful, — rich 
and  poor,  learned  and  illiterate,  would  lose  their 
mutual  differences  in  the  grand  distinction  of  be- 
ing the  children  of  the  Highest.’^ 

We  may  mention,  as  another  illustration  of  the 
class  of  fallacies  to  which  we  allude,  an  exagger- 
ated conception  of  the  reconciling  power  of  hab- 
it. How  commonly  do  we  hear  it  observed,  in 
reference  to  any  exhibition  of  physical  wretch- 
edness, ‘‘  Ah ! poor  creatures ! but  they  are 
used  to  it and  how  often  has  such  a sentiment 
proved  a bar  both  to  assistance  and  sympathy ! 
There  is  as  usual  some  truth  in  this  remark. 
Such  observations  are  not  raised  to  the  rank  of 


152 


MONEY. 


maxims  without  some  reason.  Providence  kind- 
ly ordains  that  we  become  less  susceptible  to 
any  inconvenience  the  longer  we  bear  it ; habit 
is  a mitigator  of  human  woe ; the  burden  fits  it- 
self to  the  shoulder,  and  at  length  is  borne  easi- 
ly. But  there  are  limits  to  the  power  of  habit. 
It  cannot  destroy  the  strongest  susceptibilities  of 
human  nature ; it  cannot  reverse  instinct,  or  make 
misery  an  element  of  happiness.  An  exotic 
plant  may  be  acclimated,  but  there  is  constant 
war  between  its  own  tendencies  and  its  new  po- 
sition, and  a degree  of  inclemency  which  will 
kill  it.  How  many  human  exotics  have  perished 
in  the  process  of  acclimation ! How  many  who 
survive  drag  out  a life  of  suffering ! It  is  not 
true  that  man  is  “a  bundle  of  habits.’^  He  has 
a native  force,  certain  definite  appliances  within 
himself,  with  which  outward  circumstances  are 
incongruous  or  otherwise.  By  being  always  sit- 
uated in  the  same  condition  he  may  be  ignorant 
of  the  pains  or  pleasures  which  spring  from  con- 
trast, but  surely  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  tasted 
a higher  degree  of  happiness  in  order  to  feel 
that  wretchedness  is  wretched.  Man  is  not  such 
a thing  of  experience.  Whether  conscious  of  it 
or  not,  whoever  exists  in  a state  of  physical  des- 
titution must  possess  far  less  than  the  average 
of  human  enjoyment. 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY, 


153 


Besides  those  dangers  which  beset  wealth  on 
the  side  of  the  intellect,  there  are  others  which  be- 
long more  to  the  province  of  the  heart.  One  of 
these  arises  from  the  tendency  there  is  in  those 
pursuits  which  accumulate  wealth  to  produce  an 
engrossing  spirit  of  worldliness ; such  an  ardent 
attachment  to  the  things  of  this  life,  and  such  a 
determination  to  possess  them,  as  leaves  no  room 
for  the  love  of  nobler  objects.  In  this  respect 
the  man  who  is  rapidly  rising  in  temporal  cir- 
cumstances is  exposed  to  much  greater  peril  than 
those  who  are  already  wealthy.  It  is  air  in  mo- 
tion which  constitutes  the  hurricane ; when  at 
rest,  whatever  within  ordinary  limits  its  density 
may  be,  we  move  in  it  without  inconvenience. 
The  passion  for  wealth  may  be  compared  to  that 
of  the  gamester.  At  first  comparatively  feeble, 
it  increases  in  intensity,  till  at  length  the  soul  is 
carried  away  with  the  fury  of  a whirlwind. 
How  many  a person  in  the  early  years  of  his 
mercantile  career  manifested  decided  indications 
of  a religious  spirit ; feeling,  fresh  and  vernal, 
expanded  itself  in  blossoms  of  spiritual  promise. 
To  such  a one  the  Saviour  might  have  uttered 
those  words,  so  full  of  hope  and  fear : “ Thou 
art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  But 
his  enterprises  began  to  be  unusually  successful, 
and  his  anxieties  were  turned  into  a new  chan- 


154 


MONEY. 


nel.  Tried  on  a wider  scale,  his  plans  proved  in 
a corresponding  degree  more  lucrative,  and  pro- 
portionably  greater  force  was  infused  into  the 
worldly  tendencies  of  his  heart.  At  length  he 
had  left  his  former  sphere ; he  had  unconscious- 
ly wandered  into  a new  orbit.  Outwardly  his 
position  might  be  where  it  formerly  was.  The 
same  pew  in  the  sanctuary  witnessed,  at  least 
(mce  on  the  Lord’s  day,  the  same  decorous  rec- 
ognition of  Christian  ordinances,  the  same  liber- 
ality was  exhibited  in  contributing  to  the  sus- 
tenance of  evangelical  efforts,  all  the  convention- 
al marks  by  which  a Christian  man  is  distin- 
guished from  others  were  duly  found  among  the 
externals  of  his  life,  yet  he  was  essentially  an- 
other man.  The  springs  of  religious  sensibility 
were  quite  dried  up ; his  very  conscience  was 
secularized.  Of  the  earth,  earthy,”  might  be 
seen  written  on  the  rubbish -pyramid  of  his  am- 
bition ; and  the  final  issue,  kept  from  its  complete 
fulfillment  by  a few  remaining  years,  might  be 
expressed  in  one  word, — lost,  to  God  and  to 
himself. 

Nothing  can  equal  in  sub  til  ty  the  first  en- 
croachments of  a worldly  spirit.  It  assumes  the 
most  attractive  disguise.  Is  not  diligence  in  bus- 
iness enforced  upon  us  by  a divine  command? 
Is  not  negligence  in  providing  for  the  temporal 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


155 


welfare  of  our  families  placed  among  the  practi- 
cal denials  of  the  Christian  faith  ? Are  not  the 
institutions  of  trade  and  commerce  of  divine  ap- 
pointment ? Is  not  the  successful  manufacturer 
or  merchant  a benefactor  to  mankind  ? Such 
are  the  specious  arguments  by  which  the  first 
overtures  of  the  world  are  sustained,  but  they 
are  soon  laid  aside.  Sin,  when  in  comparative 
abeyance,  will  consent  to  knock  at  the  door  of 
the  heart — to  play  the  Jesuit  and  the  cringer  by 
turns,  in  order  to  get  admittance ; but,  once  in- 
side, it  will  jiot  consent  to  remain  there  a mo- 
ment except  on  the  footing  of  its  own  sovereign- 
ty. Any  course  deliberately  entered  upon  and 
persevered  in  for  a lengthened  period,  though  at 
first  it  was  at  variance  with  our  convictions,  and 
forced  us  to  battle  with  one-half  our  moral  na- 
ture, will  at  length  conciliate  the  affections,  mas- 
ter the  will,  and  enthrone  itself  in  the  midst  of 
its  conquests,  like  the  strong  man  armed  keep- 
ing his  goods  in  peace.”  No  evil  spirit  is  more 
bland  in  its  professions,  more  promising  in  its 
appearance,  or  more  imperious  in  its  rule,  than 
that  of  worldliness ; nor  is  there  a more  impreg- 
nable position  within  the  temporal  precincts  of 
the  abyss  of  ruin  than  that  which  is  occupied  by 
the  worldly  man.  The  persecutor,  the  debau- 
chee, the  idolater,  may  be  made  a disciple  of 


156 


MONEY. 


Christ  more  easily  than  he.  It  is  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a needle  than 
for  a rich  man  (one  who  loves  riches  supremely) 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.’^ 

Since  wealth  is  prone  to  foster  misconception 
respecting  the  character  and  deserts  of  others, 
it  has  also  a tendency  to  affect  injuriously  our 
conduct  toward  them.  This  tendency,  we  need 
not  repeat,  is  far  from  being  necessary ; it  is  not 
inseparable  from  wealth ; the  richest  man  may 
be  the  brightest  exemplar  of  social  virtue ; but 
it  is  at  least  a tendency  which  is  incident  to 
an  inferior  position  in  life.  Among  the  most 
conspicuous  manifestations  of  this  tendency  are 
pride  and  arrogance ; the  inward  sentiment  of 
superiority,  nursed  into  insolent  rigor,  dwelt  in, 
gloated  on  by  self-esteem,  and  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  that  sentiment  through  the  medium 
of  our  words  and  actions.  The  proud  man  loves 
to  isolate  himself  from  others,  as  though  he  were 
cast  in  a more  exquisit  fashion,  or  made  of  more 
costly  materials.  He  never  looks  at  his  fellow- 
creatures  except  through  a set  of  lenses,  the 
sole  product  of  his  own  misled  imagination, 
which  diminishes  them  to  the  size  of  pygmies, 
and  turns  himself  into  a sort  of  Jupiter  among 
mortals.  Every  word  and  gesture  is  expressive 
of  contempt,  or  of  a condescension  which  is  still 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


151 


more  repulsive.  Pride  is  often  found  mixed  up 
with  feelings  of  a meaner  kind ; a subservient 
ambition,  which  sedulously  courts  notice  of  all 
who  occupy  a higher  station,  and  makes  every 
advance  the  occasion  of  disowning  every  species 
of  intercourse  with  those  beneath.  How  mel- 
ancholy and  ignoble  does  such  a spirit  render 
life ! All  the  honest  and  generous  friendships 
which  bloom  to-day,  withered  to-morrow  by  the 
merciless  wand  of  wealth ! Those  whose  coun- 
tenance was  once  coveted  as  an  honor,  severed 
at  once  from  our  very  memories  because  we 
grasp  a few  more  lumps  of  gold,  or  the  smiles 
of  human  favor  beam  upon  us  with  softer  be- 
nignancy.  Ah  ! wealth  is  a curse  indeed  if  it 
make  the  heart  thus  unfaithful  and  dishonest ! — 
if  it  subordinate  our  attachment  to  the  wise  and 
excellent  to  worldly  consequence  and  fame ! — if 
it  tempt  us  to  sacrifice  upon  a heap  of  gold-dust 
such  imperishable  jewels  as  love,  honor,  con- 
stancy, and  gratitude ! 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether,  in  describing  the 
characteristic  qualities  of  pride  and  arrogance, 
we  should  brand  them  as  foolish  or  pernicious. 
In  a very  high  degree  they  are  both.  That  must 
be  pernicious  which  separates  man  from  man, 
steels  the  heart  against  all  sympathy,  and  makes 
an  immortal  being  the  victim  of  the  most  pue- 


158 


MONEY. 


rile  hopes  and  fears.  That  ^must  be  foolish 
which  provokes  ridicule,  is  its  own  tormentor, 
and  justifies  itself  by  the  very  arguments  which 
pronounce  its  censure.  Pride  is  a blind  passion 
— the  precursor  of  destruction  to  individuals  and 
States ; it  is  the  soul  of  faction  and  the  spring 
of  discontent ; it  inflicts  incalculable  evils  on  all 
who  fall  beneath  its  power,  and,  by  silently  re- 
laxing the  social  ties,  tends  to  precipitate  society 
into  ruin.  As  cherished  by  one  man  toward  an- 
other it  is  absurd.  Since  every  good  gift  comes 
from  God,  they  who  have  the  costliest  gifts  are 
the  greatest  debtors,  and  ought  to  discharge 
their  obligations  to  the  common  Parent  by  treat- 
ing more  kindly  those  of  his  offspring  whom  he 
has  favored  in  a less  eminent  degree.  Besides, 
all  men  possess  in  germ  the  same  illustrious  fac- 
ulties. Over  all  the  Eternal  bends  in  infinite 
pity ; for  all  the  Saviour  died ; all  are  invited  to 
the  honor  of  being  kings  and  priests  unto  God, 
and  reigning  with  him  forever. 

There  is  another  sin  which  is  scarcely  less 
despicable  and  pernicious  than  pride ; we  refer 
to  one  which  is  by  no  means  confined  to  circles 
of  wealth,  though  it  is  there  most  mischievous 
in  its  results.  The  vanity  of  display  is  not 
monopolized,  alas  ] by  any  section  of  the  com- 
munity. How  many  sacrifice  their  health  and 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


159 


run  into  debt  to  ‘'keep  up  an  appearance!’’ 
How  many  among  the  poorer  classes  neglect 
real  wants  to  supply  fancied  ones  ! But  when 
the  same  weakness  rules  a person  of  extensive 
resources,  a severe  blow  is  inflicted  upon  the 
community.  His  wealth  is  part  of  the  national 
stock ; he  is  morally  one  of  a body  of  trustees, 
comprising  a few  thousands,  upon  whom  the 
employment  and  well-being  of  the  entire  popu- 
lation depend.  On  public  grounds  he  ought  to 
devote  the  smallest  possible  portion  of  his  income 
to  mere  luxury,  that  he  may  have  the  more  to 
invest  in  remunerative  enterprise,  and  the  more 
to  give  in  works  of  charity  and  mercy.  Economy 
need . not  be  parsimonious,  nor  prudence  beg- 
garly. The  fine  arts  and  costly  species  of  manu- 
facture depend  upon  the  patronage  of  men  of 
wealth,  and  patronage  exerted  in  this  direction 
is  not  without  a powerful  moral  influence  upon 
society.  But  even  the  artistic  passion  must  be 
kept  within  reasonable  limits,  and  he  is  no  right 
steward  of  his  wealth  who  lavishes  a hundred 
thousand  pounds  in  the  formation  of  a picture- 
gallery,  when  the  neighboring  population  are 
starving  for  want  of  the  capital  necessary  to 
make  their  labor  productive,  or  Christian  enter- 
prises languish  for  support. 

Beside  these  evils  which  originate  in  the 


160 


MONEY. 


moral  tendency  of  wealth,  there  are  some  which 
lie  more  immediately  in  its  use.  One  of  these, 
lying  within  the  sphere  of  business,  we  must  be 
permitted  to  single  out  from  among  the  rest  for 
special  notice — we  refer  to  undue  speculation. 
This  is  entitled  to  a bad  preeminence  among  other 
sins  of  business  on  account  of  the  too  favorable 
light  in  which  it  is  often  regarded,  and  the  ap- 
palling consequences  which  sometimes  flow  from 
it.  Speculation,  when  pursued  to  an  extent 
beyond  a person's  means,  is  as  foreign  to  the 
sober  habits  of  business  as  the  pursuits  of  the 
gambler.  It  stakes  success,  not  on  prudence 
and  industry,  but  in  probabilities  only  a step 
above  chance.  It  turns  trade  into  a game  of 
hazard,  and  spreads  a feeling  of  uncertainty  and 
insecurity  far  and  wide.  Its  moral  influence  is 
excessively  injurious.  The  spirit  it  fosters  is  as 
different  from  that  honest  emulation  which 
springs  from  a laudable  desire  to  succeed  in  life, 
as  the  delirium  of  a fever  from  the  elastic  energy 
of  a healthy  man.  It  is  essentially  plotting, 
greedy,  secret,  overreaching,  and  easily  slides 
into  recklessness  regarding  the  interests  of 
others.  Its  effects,  in  an  economical  point  of 
view,  have  often  been  most  fatal.  How  many 
thousands  have  been  ruined  by  it ! How  many 
volumes  might  be  filled  with  melancholy  narra- 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY.  161 

tives  of  individuals  who  were  hurled  in  a moment 
from  affluence  to  poverty,  but  who  might  have 
continued  wealthy,  had  they  only  been  contented 
with  the  results  of  honorable  exertion!  It  is 
too  little  to  say  that  a person  is  imprudent  who 
thus  risks  his  all ; he  has  no  right  to  do  it ; he 
has  no  right  to  expose  himself  and  family  to  the 
loss  which  may  ensue,  nor  yet  to  expose  others 
to  the  fluctuation  and  peril  which  must  in  any 
case  be  the  result.  Great  lessons  on  the  evils 
of  undue  speculation  have  been  taught  the 
present  generation,  which  will  not  be  speedily 
forgotten.  The  public  and  private  disasters  of 
1847,  consequent  in  a great  measure  on  the  rail- 
way mania  in  England,  are  still  fresh  in  the 
recollection  of  all.  The  prospect  of  immediate 
wealth,  without  the  trouble  of  working  for  it,  led 
multitudes  to  change  their  property  for  railway 
shares,  thus  creating  an  unnatural  demand,  and 
consequent  high  prices,  which  soon  fell,  and  in- 
volved hundreds  in  ruin.  What  an  impressive 
comment  do  such  consequences  read  upon  the 
declaration  of  holy  writ — ‘‘They  that  will  be 
rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a snare  ! 1 Tim. 

vi,  9.  Might  not  prudence  itself  inscribe  over 
our  marts  of  business,  and  at  the  head  of  our 
ledgers,  the  sentiment  of  the  wise  man — “He 
that  hasteth  to  be  rich  hath  an  evil  eye,  and 
11 


162 


MONEY. 


considereth  not  that  poverty  shall  come  upon 
him?^’  Prov.  xxviii,  22. 

There  are  methods  of  employing  wealth  even 
more  sinful  and  pernicious  than  speculation,  and 
among  these  we  cannot  hesitate  to  class  every 
attempt  to  turn  it  into  an  engine  of  corruption 
and  oppression.  Unhappily,  in  the  fallen  condi- 
tion of  human  nature,  morality  is  often  held  too 
cheap  in  the  presence  of  mammon.  How  many 
are  there  who  would  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice 
purity,  integrity,  honor,  the  highest  dictates  of 
duty,  for  gold  ! They  who  would  do  so  are 
guilty  of  a crime,  but  so  are  they  also  who  would 
tempt  them  to  do  it.  They  who  suffer  them- 
selves by  this  means  to  be  drawn  into  sin  are 
without  excuse,  but  how  much  more  those  ‘‘  by 
whom  the  offense  cometh !’’  What  an  immense 
amount  of  iniquity  would  cease  if  the  stimulus 
of  wealth  were  withheld  ; and  what  an  array  of 
moral  excellence  might  we  not  hope,  with  the 
divine  blessing,  to  see  produced,  if  all  the  wealth 
thus  rescued  from  vicious  pursuits  were  devoted 
conscientiously  to  the  interests  of  religion  ! How 
many  a wanderer  from  the  paths  of  virtue  might 
be  reclaimed — how  many  who  are  now  living 
abandoned  by  all  sense  of  shame ; victims  of  a 
misery  all  the  more  dreadful,  because  it  is  be- 
dizened in  present  gayety ; waifs  on  life’s  highway, 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


163 


soon  to  be  trodden  under  foot  forever! — how 
many  such  might  be  raised  to  the  enjoyments 
of  religion  and  the  blessings  of  social  life  1 There 
is  a kindred  crime  which  can  be  perpetrated  by 
wealth  alone  to  which  we  must  refer.  It  is 
notorious  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  exercise 
of  the  political  franchise,  but  it  is  wholly  within 
the  province  of  morals,  and  has  nothing^to  do 
with  particular  principles  or  parties.  We  refer 
to  the  practice  of  hrihery.  Hardly  any  practice 
can  be  more  pernicious  in  a public  point  of  view, 
and  none,  perhaps,  on  the  character  of  the  indi- 
vidual. It  is  the  besetting  sin  of  wealthy  com- 
munities, and  its  unrestrained  indulgence  is  the 
sure  precursor  of  national  ruin.  The  patriot 
should  denounce  it  as  the  most  fatal  foe  to  the 
interests  of  his  country ; while  the  moralist,  and, 
far  above  all,  the  Christian  should  hate  it  as  an 
egregious  violation  of  the  divine  law.  God^s 
will  should  be  obeyed  in  reference  to  all  our 
duties,  public  as  well  as  private.  A people  ex- 
alted in  righteousness  will  shake  their  hand  from 
holding  of  bribes;  and  of  them  we  may  say, 
“Their  place  of  defense  shall  be  the  munitions 
of  rocks. Isa.  xxxiii,  16. 

The  vices  to  which  we  have  just  alluded  are 
confessedly  disreputable ; a person  cannot  stoop 
to  them  without  forfeiting  in  a certain  sense  his 


164 


MONEY. 


position  with  all  those  whose  good  opinion  is 
worth  possessing;  but  how  many  things  which 
the  world  does  not  reckon  vicious  are  an  abomi- 
nation in  the  sight  of  God ! How  many  methods 
are  there  of  using  wealth  which  Christ  regards 
with  disapproval,  which  are,  nevertheless,  adopted  ^ 
without  self-rebuke  by  thousands  who  bear  his 
name  ! The  Christian  Church  has  given  munifi- 
cently perhaps  to  various  evangelical  enterprises, 
but  its  gifts  have  been  small  compared  with  its 
possessions.  The  offerings  have  been  made  by 
the  few ; they  do  not  represent  the  concentrated 
faith  and  devotedness  of  the  many.  Its  gifts 
have  been  made  from  its  abundance.  Alas  ! 
how  few  superfluities  have  been  cut  off*,  how 
little  of  privation  has  been  borne,  in  order  to 
send  the  blessings  of  religion  and  civilization  to 
distant  lands ! How  few  economize  to  give ! 
With  what  sad  unanimity  do  Christian  professors 
follow  worldly  men  into  the  paths  of  extravagant 
expenditure ! The  Christian  Church  has  yet  to 
learn  the  Scriptural  ethics  of  money.  The  reader 
will  permit  us  here  to  use  the  words  of  a ‘‘  master 
in  Israel.”  Let  not  any  man,”  says  John  Wes- 
ley, ‘^imagine  that  he  has  done  anything  by 
merely  gaining  and  saving  all  he  can,  if  he  were 
to  stop  here.  All  this  is  nothing  if  a man  go 
not  forward — if  he  do  not  point  all  this  to  a 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


165 


farther  end.  Nor,  indeed,  can  a man  be  said  to 
save  anything  if  he  only  lay  it  up.  You  may 
as  well  throw  your  money  into  the  sea  as  bury  it 
in  the  earth,  and  you  may  as  well  bury  it  in  the 
earth  as  in  your  chest  or  the  bank.  Not  to  use 
is  effectually  to  throw  it  away.  If,  therefore, 
you  would  indeed  make  to  yourselves  friends 
of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  having 
gained  all  you  can,  and  saved  all  you  can,  then 
give  all  you  can.  Gain  all  you  can  without 
hurting  either  yourself  or  neighbor  in  soul  or 
body,  by  applying  hereto  with  unremitting  dili- 
gence, and  with  all  the  understanding  which  God 
has  given  you.  Save  all  you  can  by  cutting  off 
every  expense  which  merely  serves  to  indulge 
foolish  desire,  to  gratify  either  the  desire  of  the 
flesh,  the  desire  of  the  eye,  or  the  pride  of  life  ; 
waste  nothing  living  or  dying  in  sin  and  folly, 
whether  for  yourself  or  your  children  ; and  then 
give  all  you  can,  or  rather  give  all  you  have,  to 
God.  Do  not  stint  yourself,  like  a Jew  rather 
than  a Christian,  to  this  or  that  proportion. 
Render  unto  God  not  a tenth,  not  a third,  not 
half,  but  all  that  is  God’s,  be  it  more  or  less,  by 
employing  all  on  yourself,  your  household,  the 
household  of  faith,  and  all  mankind,  in  such  a 
manner  that  you  may  give  a good  account  of 
your  stewardship  when  ye  can  be  no  longer 


166 


MONET. 


stewards ; in  such  a manner  as  the  oracles  of 
God  direct,  both  by  general  and  particular  pre- 
cepts ; in  such  a manner  that  whatever  you  do 
may  be  ‘ a sacrifice  of  a sweet- smelling  savor’ 
unto  God,  and  that  every  act  may  be  rewarded 
in  that  day  when  ^ the  Lord  cometh  with  all  his 
saints.’  At  this  hour  and  from  this  hour  do  the 
will  of  Christ : fulfill  his  word  in  this  and  in  all 
things.  I entreat  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  act  up  to  the  dignity  of  your  calling. 
'No  more  sloth  ! Whatsoever  your  hand  findeth 
to  do,  do  it  with  your  might.  No  more  waste  1 
Cut  off  every  expense  which  fashion  and  caprice 
demand.  Employ  what  God  has  given  you  in 
doing  good,  all  possible  good,  in  every  possible 
way,  in  every  possible  degree,  to  the  household 
of  faith  and  to  all  men.” — Wesley* s Sermon  on 
‘‘  The  Use  of  Money** 

We  have  said  that  probation  is  indissolubly 
connected  with  every  condition  in  life.  Spiritual 
dangers  beset  us  on  every  side,  and,  if  more 
numerous  in  a situation  of  affluence,  they  are  by 
no  means  peculiar  to  it.  The  poor  man  is  ex- 
posed to  perils  of  his  own — perils  introduced 
into  his  sphere  that  he  may  have  something  with 
which  to  wrestle,  something  to  render  watchful- 
ness and  virtue  necessary,  and  the  overcoming 
of  which  will  confer  upon  him  a degree  of  bless- 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY.  167 

edness  sufficient  to  compensate  for  all  the  toil 
expended  in  its  acquisition. 

The  poor  man  is  apt  to  exaggerate  the  pos- 
session of  wealth  as  a means  of  happiness. 
Sensible  of  many  privations  which  money  would 
remove,  his  wishes  bounded  on  all  sides  by  the 
impotence  of  poverty,  he  is  easily  led  to  imagine 
that  wealth  would  give  him  all  that  heart  can 
wish.  Hence  he  cannot  see  a wealthy  man  with- 
out instituting  a comparison  all  to  his  own  dis- 
advantage. That  individual  is  in  a state  all  but 
paradisaical.  He  need  not  labor  with  his  hands ; 
no  master’s  eye  or  factory-bell  measures  to  him 
more  accurately  than  an  hour-glass  the  intervals 
of  relaxation ; day  after  day  he  may  go  whither 
his  inclination  leads  him  ; his  name  is  a symbol 
of  respect  with  all  classes  ; he  owns  a spacious 
mansion  ; his  eye  continually  falls  on  agreeable 
garden  and  pleasure-grounds — all  his  own — the 
very  picture  of  beauty  and  repose.  His  rooms 
are  hung  with  costly  paintings ; his  library  is 
stored  with  the  choicest  books  ; the  latest  inven- 
tions of  science  stand  at  his  side,  as  if  to  tempt 
the  exercise  of  thought,  and  render  him  an  epi- 
cure in  knowledge.  Such  a man  must  be  happy. 
A.h  ! perhaps  no  other  person  would  be  more 
ready  to  give  the  sentiment  a flat  denial.  Per- 
haps he  has  often  glanced  through  a rustic  lat- 


168 


MONEY. 


tice,  and,  as  he  saw  his  laborer’s  children  gath- 
ered round  the  evening  fire,  wondered  whether 
the  happiness  he  could  not  find  under  his  pala- 
tial roof  had  taken  refuge  there.  It  is  an  utter 
delusion  to  suppose  that  happiness  is  connected 
with  any  measure  of  worldly  good.  Man’s  heart 
is  larger  than  the  largest  stores  of  affluence  ; his 
wishes  never  fail  to  expand  in  a greater  ratio 
than  his  possessions,  ever  increasing  the  absolute 
void.  His  wealth  itself  is  a collection  of  cares. 
True  happiness  lies  in  doing  the  will  of  God ; 
in  acquiescing  in  the  divine  arrangements  ; in 
cultivating  the  excellences  and  discharging  the 
duties  of  piety.  Elsewhere  none  can  be  happy, 
but  all  may  be  happy  here. 

In  his  demeanor  toward  those  who  occupy  a 
higher  station,  the  poor  man  is  prone  to  errors 
which  reflect  dishonor  upon  himself.  Those  to 
which  we  allude  are  of  two  opposite  kinds,  and 
candor  requires  that  both  should  be  stigmatized 
as  improper.  On  the  one  hand,  he  may  indulge 
in  a mean,  slavish,  cringing  spirit ; always  speak 
in  a tone  more  in  keeping  with  the  position  of  a 
Russian  serf  than  that  of  a free-born  English- 
man, and  watch  every  occasion  of  showing  that 
principle,  honor,  religion,  the  most  sacred  obli- 
gations, are  secondary  in  his  view  to  the  desire 
to  gratify  a rich  man’s  wishes.  We  know  how 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


169 


unpopular  such  men  are  with  the  bulk  of  their 
own  class  ; we  need  not  mention  here  the  inglo- 
rious epithets  which  have  been  coined  in  order  to 
biing  out  their  conduct  in  opprobrious  relief ; 
sufficient  to  say  that  such  a spirit  is  the  bane  of 
any  population,  inimical  to  morality,  perilous  to 
the  interests  of  wealth,  the  source  of  pauperism, 
bribery,  and  even  crime.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  of  the  poorer  classes  carry  their  independ- 
ence to  a more  rugged  and  repulsive  extreme. 
They  appear  to  seize  every  opportunity  of  say- 
ing by  their  actions  to  the  wealthier  employers, 
do  not  care  for  you.'^  What  a needless, 
what  a dishonorable  manifesto  ! What  an  exu- 
berance of  vulgarity ! How  rude  and  low  it 
stamps  the  character  to  be  of  the  men  who 
make  it ! Courtesy  and  politeness  are  due  from 
one  individual  to  another.  The  operative  owes 
respect  to  all,  and  therefore,  on  this  general 
ground,  without  estimating  the  obligation  which 
may  arise  from  special  relations  to  his  employer, 
it  is  a duty  he  owes  himself  to  be  uniformly 
frank,  manly,  and  respectful ; — more,  others 
have  no  right  to  ask ; less,  he  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  give. 

The  surest  safeguard  against  the  moral  dangers 
of  every  position  in  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  recep- 
tion of  those  Scriptural  truths  which  teach  us  our 


170 


MONEY. 


true  relations  to  God  as  creatures  who,  inheriting 
a depraved  nature,  have  by  their  transgressions 
forfeited  all  claim  to  the  divine  favor,  and  who, 
devoid  of  all  merit,  can  rest  their  claims  for  ac- 
ceptance solely  on  the  atoning  sacrifice  and 
righteousness  of  Christ.  This  is  a view  which 
is  calculated  to»  humble  pride,  and  to  make  the 
various  inequalities  of  the  social  condition  assume 
their  true  level.  Scarcely  less  important  also  is 
the  duty,  when  these  views  have  been  received 
into  the  soul,  of  maintaining  their  power  by  hab- 
itually cherishing  a .prayerful  spirit.  A prayer- 
ful spirit  checks  the  growth  of  worldliness,  al- 
lays the  turbulence  of  vanity,  and  makes  a per- 
son, even  when  surrounded  with  earthly  pomp 
and  splendor,  walk  humbly  with  God.  By 
maintaining  prayer,  Daniel  was  enabled  to  re- 
main incorrupted  at  the  court  of  Babylon. 
Looking  at  the  world  in  this  medium,  he  beheld 
its  unreality,  its  evanescence,  and  discerned  the 
folly  of  sacrificing  piety  at  the  shrine  of  temporal 
advancement.  In  him  God  gave  an  illustration 
of  the  truth,  that  they  who  honor  him  he  will 
honor.  His  spirituality  was  the  source  of  that 
wisdom  which  raised  him  above  his  rivals,  and 
saved  him  from  the  dangers  which  beset  the 
summit  of  greatness.  Daily  humbled  and  ele- 
vated by  communion  with  the  King  of  kings,  he 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


171 


could  tread  the  courts  of  royalty  without  servil- 
ity or  ambition.  If  we  examine  the  lives  of 
those  individuals  who  have  been  equally  great 
and  excellent,  we  shall  find  that  communion  with 
God  was  the  secret  of  their  excellence.  They 
knew  the  attractiveness  of  the  closet.  Business, 
however  pressing,  did  not  engross  the  whole  of 
their  time  ; they  were  fervent  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord.’’  Their  minds  were  strengthened  by 
devotion ; their  judgments  acquired  greater  clear- 
ness by  being  accustomed  to  contemplate  spirit- 
ual objects ; while,  by  the  same  process,  they 
were  saved  from  that  absorbing  passion  for 
worldly  things  which  often  blinds  the  mind  to 
danger,  and  conducts  it  into  ruinous  errors. 

The  common  excuse  for  the  neglect  of  prayer 
is  the 'want  of  time  ; but  this  excuse  cannot  pass 
with  those  who  find  time  enough  for  everything 
else.  In  the  day  most  crowded  with  engage- 
ments, what  merchant  would  not  find  time  to 
confer  with  a person  likely  t(i  become  a large 
purchaser  ? How  few  would  allow  a first-rate 
bargain  to  slip  away  on  the  plea  that  they  had 
no  time  to  attend  to  it ! It  is  too  evident  that 
such  an  excuse  borrows  all  its  validity  from  the 
nature  of  the  duty  it  is  contrived  to  shun.  It 
would  be  regarded  as  insufficient  in  any  case  in 
which  our  interest  or  inclination  stood  concern- 


172 


MONEY. 


ed  : the  person  has  no  time  for  religion,  no  time 
for  the  soul,  no  time  for  eternity,  though  quite 
enough  for  everything  he  truly  cares  about ! 
But,  if  business  is  really  so  extensive  as  to  leave 
no  time  for  devotion,  then  business  must  be  cur- 
tailed. To  a wise  and  prudent  person  no  other 
choice  would  seem  to  be  left.  Some  time  must 
be  saved  from  secular  cares  to  be  devoted  to 
our  everlasting  interests ; to  the  cultivation  of 
spirituality,  piety,  godliness ; to  replenish  the 
soul  with  water  from  the  springs  of  life.  Time 
thus  expended  would  be  time  gained.  Yes,  in 
sober  truth,  the  separation  of  a portion  of  the 
day  for  purposes  of  devotion  would  be  found 
in  the  highest  degree  conducive  to  the  physical, 
mental,  and  pecuniary  welfare  of  the  man  of 
business.  The  more  pressing  his  occupations, 
the  more  extensive  and  important  his  transac- 
tions, the  more  benefit  would  he  draw  from  sea- 
sons of  retirement.  The  closet  has  no  antipathy 
to  the  counting-house ; the  two  should  go  to- 
gether, just  as  religion  should  be  allowed  to 
blend  with  and  hallow  all  the  pursuits  of  life. 
A clear  head  is  needful  in  business.  A man 
who  will  succeed  must  not  allow  his  brain  to  be 
dizzied  by  a score  of  plans,  all  jumbled  together 
in  pell-mell  confusion.  He  should  see  them  all  in 
clear  outline,  as  we  see  a town  traced  on  a sheet 


THE  MORALS  OF  MONEY. 


173 


of  paper,  or  as  a general  surveys  the  field  of 
battle.  Some  very  cool  intellects  may  do  this 
without  any  moral  aid,  but  devotional  habits  sup> 
ply  to  all  the  best  means  of  doing  it.  Few  per- 
sons comprehend  all  the  bearings  of  a bargain 
so  well  as  a disinterested  spectator ; and  he  ap- 
proaches the  nearest  to  such  a character  who 
uses  the  world  without  being  enslaved  by  it,  and 
in  whose  mind  the  interest  of  present  things  is 
properly  balanced  by  the  interests  of  futurity. 

One  reason  why  private  prayer  is  so  little 
resorted  to  by  men  of  business  is,  that  its  ob- 
servance is  seldom  made  a matter  of  arrange- 
ment. It  is  left  to  chance,  and  is  generally 
deferred  to  the  end  of  the  day,  when  both  mind 
and  body  are  ordinarily  so  enfeebled  as  to  render 
it  of  little  use.  But  this  should  not  be.  Inde- 
pendently of  evening  devotion  and  that  ejacula- 
tory prayer  which  ought  to  be  interwoven 
through  the  whole  business  of  life,  a part  of  the 
day,  in  which  the  mind  and  body  are  freshest, 
should  be  set  apart  for  communion  with  God. 
What  season  could  be  more  appropriate  for  this 
than  early  morn  ? What  more  beautiful  than, 
before  the  intrusion  of  worldly  cares  and  tempta- 
tions, to  fortify  the  mind  by  the  perusal  of  the 
divine  word,  and  supplication  for  grace  to  help 
us  in  the  hour  of  need  ? Business  is  irritating  ; 


174 


MONEY. 


mistakes,  disappointments,  losses,  are  daily  oc- 
curring to  task  the  temper ; how  wise,  then, 
before  entering  upon  it,  to  ascend  the  mount  of 
celestial  fellowship,  and  seek  strength  from 
Christ  to  honor  him  through  the  day  ! Such  a 
course  would  make  our  piety  burn  brighter,  and 
Christians,  through  the  medium  of  business, 
would  be  the  means  of  recommending  religion 
most  powerfully  to  the  common-sense  and  com- 
mon sympathies  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN  ! BENEVOLENCE 
SPEAKING  BY  EXAMPLE. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  fallacies  and  failings  of 
moneyed  men ; but  a more  pleasing  duty  remains 
now  for  us,  namely,  the  contemplation  of  money 
as  a talent  laid  out  upon  right  principles  for  the 
service  of  the  great  Creator.  The  possession  of 
money  has  been  often  coveted  even  by  men  des- 
titute of  religious  principles,  who  recognized  it 
as  a powerful  instrument  for  the  amelioration  of 
society.  How  much  more,  then,  must  this  great 
talent  commend  itself  to  the  Christian,  as  the 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  175 

agency  by  which  his  Master’s  cause  may  be 
largely  advanced ! Let  the  worldling  long  for 
affluence,  that  he  may  gratify  avarice,  sensuality, 
luxury,  political  ambition,  or  a fastidious  taste — ■ 
the  Christian,  blessed  with  wealth,  can  show  him 
a more  excellent  way.  By  the  aid  of  this  talent, 
he  knows  that  he  may  make  war  against  igno- 
rance, intemperance,  ungodliness,  and  the  mon- 
ster evils  that  infest  society.  At  home  there  is 
disease  to  heal,  modest  merit  to  reward,  strug- 
gling industry  to  foster,  and,  above  all,  the  glo- 
rious gospel  to  diffuse.  ‘‘By  money,”  to  use 
the  language  (slightly  modified)  of  a vigorous 
writer,  “ he  may  open  a set  of  books  with 
Heaven,  becoming  the  Lord’s  steward  for  man’s 
redemption  from  suffering  and  crime,  laying  up 
his  treasures  where  neither  moth,  nor  rust,  nor 
thieves  can  approach  them.  Not  a cultured 
imagination  alone,  but  reason,  conscience,  relig- 
ion— all  have  taught  him  that  the  finest  and 
most  elegant  of  all  the  arts  is  to  paint  smiles 
upon  the  wan  cheeks  of  suffering  infancy;  to 
quench  the  demon  fire  of  passion  that  blazes 
from  the  eye  of  precocious  wantonness,  and 
kindle  in  its  stead  the  serene  light  that  radiates 
from,  a fount  of  inward  purity  ; to  hang  round 
and  preoccupy  the  chambers  of  the  juvenile 
mind  with  all  types  and  images  of  loveliness 


176 


MONEY. 


and  excellence ; and  to  build  up  all  tbe  glorious 
faculties,  as  in  colossal  architecture,  to  some 
nearer  resemblance  to  the  divine  original.  Rea- 
son, conscience,  religion — all  have  taught  him 
that  when  starving  babes  shall  no  longer  wail 
for  sustenance  upon  the  starving  mother’s  breast ; 
when  blasphemy  and  obscenity  shall  no  longer 
be  the  lullaby  with  which  the  intemperate  father 
or  mother  lulls  infancy  to  sleep  ; when  parental 
wickedness  shall  no  longer  teach  falsehood  to 
the  youthful  tongue,  and  theft  and  violence  to 
the  youthful  hand  ; when  the  infinite  woes  and 
agonies  of  earth,  which  its  superfluous  wealth 
and  its  wasted  time  might  largely  prevent,  shall 
cease  to  be — then  may  opulence  seek  its  gratifi- 
cation in  festivity,  or  in  capricious  self-indul- 
gence, without  incurring  enormous  guilt.” 

Example,  however,  is  by  far  the  best  teacher 
of  admitted,  but  unpracticed  truths.  Lucid 
statements  and  powerful  arguments  may  be 
useful  in  extending  the  bounds  of  conviction ; 
but  if  the  conscience  already  admits  the  validity 
of  any  precept,  then  the  most  effectual  method 
of  extending  its  practical  influence  is  to  present 
it  enshrined  in  some  living  form.  Such  a mode 
of  winning  attention  has  many  advantages.  It 
is  unobtrusive  ; it  does  no  violence  to  prejudice  ; 
instead  of  taking  the  garrison  by  storm,  it  invites 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  l77 

an  honorable  capitulation.  Sometimes  a person 
will  be  withheld  by  a feeling  of  pride  from 
acknowledging  himself  beaten  in  controversy, 
but  even  pride  is  disarmed  by  the  voiceless  force 
of  example.  Some  persons  are  so  constituted, 
that  when  others  point  out  to  them  any  error, 
they  begin  at  once  to  disprove  the  charge,  and 
will  rather  continue  wrong  than  consent  that 
another  shall  set  them  right.  Such  conduct  is 
censurable.  Surely  he  who  faithfully  points  out 
our  faults,  and  helps  us  to  amend  them,  is  our 
best  friend.  Even  if  our  bitterest  enemy  choose 
to  favor  us  with  criticisms  on  our  conduct,  pro- 
vided only  he  speak  the  truth,  we  shall  have  to 
thank  him  for  his  pains.  But  example  effects  its 
object  by  avoiding  these  dangers.  Its  rebukes 
are  silent ; it  fights  with  Socratic  weapons,  and 
makes  its  antagonists  their  own  conquerors. 

Happily  for  the  world,  it  is  not  yet  devoid  of 
great  examples.  Flattery  is  hateful,  but  it  is 
possible  to  be  extravagant  in  deprecation  as 
well  as  in  praise.  Our  impression  of  human 
imperfection  leads  us  sometimes  to  speak  as  if 
there  were  no  Christian  excellence  left  among 
us ; as  if  the  triumphs  which  divine  grace  can 
win  over  the  selfishness  of  man’s  heart  were?  the 
exclusive  trophy  of  apostolic  times;  and  those 
heaven-born  principles  were  extinct,  which  in- 
12 


178 


MONEY. 


duced  the  fishermen  and  publicans  of  Galilee 
to  leave  all  at  the  invitation  of  the  great 
Teacher,  and  induced  the  early  converts  to  sell 
their  possessions,’^  and  count  their  temporal 
happiness  and  wealth  but  loss  for  Christ.” 
But  such  is  not  the  case.  Carping  skeptics, 
who  wish  to  reconcile  their  real  hatred  of  Chris- 
tianity with  some  measure  of  respect  for  its 
Founder,  may  denounce  the  religion  of  the 
present  day  as  so  much  ill-disguised  hypocrisy  ; 
but  nevertheless  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the  ex- 
istence among  us  of  characters  which,  though, 
like  everything  human,  far  from  being  perfect, 
exhibit  a measure  of  excellence  which  nothing 
but  religion  received  into  the  heart  as  a vital 
reality  will  satisfactorily  explain.  It  is  not  a 
boast — of  such  things  God  forbid  that  we  should 
glory ! — it  is  an  averment  made  in  sheer  self- 
defense,  that  Christian  men,  while  falling,  and 
in  the  estimation  of  no  one  more  than  themselves, 
far  below  the  standard  of  holiness  revealed  in 
Christ,  frequently  make  sacrifices  for  the  welfare 
of  mankind  such  as  infidelity  could  never  prompt. 
These  sacrifices  too  are  made,  not  under  the 
influence  of  any  sentiment  which  could  be 
branded  as  fanaticism,  but  by  men  whom  the 
skeptic  is  bound  to  respect — who  exhibit  in 
their  common  life  intelligence  as  extensive,  a 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  lY9 

logic  as  severe,  a shrewdness  as  all-observant, 
and  a temperament  as  sober  as  his  own. 

Our  object,  however,  is  not  to  obviate  the 
cavils  of  the  skeptic,  but  to  stimulate  the  Chris- 
tian to  greater  excellence ; and  this  we  propose 
to  do  by  bringing  to  his  notice  two  or  three 
instances  of  departed  worth,  which  may  be  the 
means,  perhaps,  of  keeping  before  his  eye,  and 
thus  rendering  familiar  to  him,  a standard  to 
which  he  has  not  yet  attained.  It  is  a salutary 
employment  to  muse  upon  the  excellences  of 
those  now  gone  to  their  reward,  till  they  expand 
before  us  into  life-like  reality.  Such  visions  be- 
come our  best  companions ; they  accompany  us 
into  the  crowded  city,  stand  by  us  in  the  press 
of  business,  .speak  to  us  words  of  counsel  audible 
to  none  besides,  and  continually  admonish  us  to 
follow  them  even  as  they  followed  Christ. 

One  of  the  most  decisive  tests  of  a person’s 
Christian  liberality  is  afforded  by  the  question — 
How  much  (not  in  absolute  amount,  but  as  com- 
pared with  what  remains)  does  he  give  to  God  ? 
To  apply  this  test,  however,  it  is  necessary  to 
recognize  clearly  the  characteristics  of  Christian 
benevolence.  It  is  easy  to  give  away  a great 
deal,  and  give  it  also  to  excellent  objects,  and  yet 
to  give  nothing  to  God,  Here  the  motive  de^ 
cides  all.  Christian  beiievplence  springs  from  a 


180 


MONEY. 


sense  of  God’s  ownership  in  ourselves  and  in 
everything  we  possess.  It  recognizes  this  fact: 
God  is  the  sovereign  Master  of  all  things : man 
is  but  the  recipient  and  steward  of  his  bounty. 
He  whose  hand  joined  cause  and  effect,  endowed 
us  with  those  faculties  which  enable  us  to  amass 
wealth,  and  constituted  that  agreement  between 
our  organization  and  external  objects  which  is 
the  source  of  so  much  pleasure,  can  never  relin- 
quish his  right  to  the  proprietorship  of  the  world. 
He  lays  his  hand  at  once  on  every  atom;  his 
omnipotence  ever  rests'  in  immediate  contact  with 
unsentient  beings,  and  secures  abstract  admira- 
tion and  entire  subservience  to  his  will.  Man 
was  intended  to  be  no  less  under  this  control, 
but  his  subjection  must  be  voluntary.  What 
God  enforces  from  material  nature  man  must 
give.  Bowing  with  all  his  possessions  at  the 
footstool  of  Infinite  mercy,  it  is  incumbent  on  him 
to  say — “ Lord,  I am  thine  ; these  also  are  thine  ; 
I can  call  nothing  my  own ; teach  me  the  duties 
of  my  stewardship ; let  me  know  what  thou 
wouldest  have  me  do.” 

The  chief  motive,  however,  which  induces  the 
Christian  to  give  his  property  to  God  is  expressed 
by  the  apostle  in  one  sentence — The  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  us.”  The  life  of  Christ  was 
one  sweet,  overpowering  manifestation  of  divine 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  181 

love.  His  sympathies  extended  themselves  to 
every  form  of  wretchedness ; the  poor,  the 
hungry,  the  diseased,  the  disconsolate,  were  the 
objects  on  whom  he  poured  the  treasures  of  his 
compassion ; while  in  the  last  act  of  his  self- 
sacrificing  career  he  gave  the  noblest  instance 
of  disinterestedness  which  the  world  ever  saw. 
Love  to  Christ  makes  us  like  Christ.  There  is  a 
transmuting  power  in  love ; it  is  the  souTs  al- 
chemy ; it  melts  and  fuses  us  into  its  own  pure 
forms.  Christ  loved  man ; this  is  the  chief  ele- 
ment of  his  surpassing  beauty ; we  cannot,  there- 
fore, love  him  without  loving  man  too.  Hence 
love  is  the  soul  of  Christianity,  without  which, 
however  vast  our  knowledge  or  great  our  powers, 
we  are  but  ''as  sounding  brass  or  a tinkling 
cymbal.’’  Springing  from  such  motives,  Chris- 
tian benevolence  is  necessarily  distinguished  by 
the  manner  in  which  it  is  exercised.  Christ  pre- 
scribed this  in  one  simple  rule  : — When  thou 
doest  thine  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand  know 
what  thy  right  hand  doeth  giving  for  the  sake 
of  giving,  not  for  the  sake  of  being  seen  to  give  ; 
giving  from  duty,  not  expediency ; a benevo- 
lence which  would  be  satisfied  if  all  its  gifts  were 
received  in  the  dark,  and  no  subscription -list 
chronicled  the  name  of  the  giver.  But  it  is  by 
the  spirit,  not  the  letter,  of  this  precept  that  we 


182 


MONEY. 


are  bound.  True,  there  is  a peculiar  charm  in 
the  private  exercise  of  charity.  How  rich  a 
treasure,  shut  up  in  the  silence  of  oui;  bosom,  is 
a benevolent  action,  which  has  caused,  perhaps, 
the  widow’s  heart  to  leap  for  joy,  or  assisted 
some  one  to  grapple  successfully  with  difiiculties 
which  would  else  have  crushed  him ! But  in 
many  cases  such  a method  of  giving  is  not  de- 
sirable. Secrecy  is  not  required  in  order  to 
present  a munificent  donation  on  Christian  prin- 
ciples ; on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  often  neces- 
sary, for  the  sake  of  example,  that  a gift  should 
be  publicly  bestowed.  In  such  a case  it  is  a 
spiritual  triumph  to  give  it  publicly,  and  yet  feel 
that  no  part  of  the  motives  flowed  from  the 
anticipated  publicity.  If  a person  has  any  ap- 
prehension that  his  heart  will  be  vain  of  his 
munificence,  it  is  doubtless  advisable  in  such  cir- 
cumstances to  expend  it  privately ; but  it  would 
be  far  better  if  his  principles  were  strong  enough 
to  give  publicly,  and  yet  permit  him  to  feel  no 
self-complacency  in  the  act. 

It  is  difficult  to  prescribe  minute  rules  for 
giving;  we  are  by  no  means  presumptuous 
enough  to  attempt  the  task.  Still,  there  are 
certain  principles  of  giving  which  are  obviously 
wrong,  and  there  are  certain  modes  of  giving 
which  clearly  prove  that  the  principles  acted  on 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  183 

are  those  very  wrong  ones.  Who,  for  example, 
has  not  been  struck  with  the  uniformity  of  ac- 
counts which  characterizes  the  subscription-lists 
of  our  religious  institutions  ? Those  guineas  in 
single  file,^^  which  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
the  donors  had  been  laid  on  a Procrustes’  bed, 
and  their  affluence  clipped  down  or  extended  to 
the  same  bulk.  But  is  it  so  ? Should  we  not 
often  find  that  one  of  those  guineas  proceeded 
from  a purse  which  could  easily  have  spared  a 
dozen  more,  while  the  other,  perhaps,  was  the 
offering  of  a piety  so  believing  and  earnest  that 
it  set  aside  the  considerations  which  might  pos- 
sibly have  been  a justification  for  giving  less  ? 
If  benevolence  always  proceeded  from  true  love 
to  Christ,  our  subscription-lists  would  soon  wear 
a different  aspect.  There  would  be  less  of  the 
contagion  of  giving  proceeding  from  without, 
less  desire  manifested  to  ‘Mo  the  same  as  others,” 
and  more  of  that  self-reckoning,  conscientious 
spirit  which  asks,  “ How  much  owest  thou  unto 
my  Lord  ?”  Giving  would  insensibly  become  a 
holier  act,  fraught  with  the  richest  blessings  to 
the  giver.  An  entire  change  might  then  take 
place  in  the  mechanism  of  Christian  effort.  Spe- 
cial appeals — appeals  so  forcible  that  they  leave 
scarcely  anything  to  the  force  of  inward  prin- 
ciple, might  then  be  laid  aside.  Ease  and  free- 


184 


MONEY. 


dom  would  be  infused  into  the  onward  move- 
ments of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Instead  of 
impressment,  philanthropy  would  fall  back  on  its 
army  of  volunteers.  Again,  how  often  do  we  see 
uniformity  under  another  aspect — an  individual 
giving  precisely  the  same  sum  at  periods  of  his 
life  when  his  circumstances  were  very  different ! 
At  the  commencement  of  his  career,  when  yet 
struggling  with  slender  capital,  and  the  uncer- 
tainties of  a business  not  yet  established,  he  gave 
as  much  as  he  gives  now  after  his  exertions  have 
long  been  crowned  with  affluence.  Since  that 
former  period  how  many  mercies  has  he  received 
from  the  divine  hand ! How  many  who  began 
the  race  when  he  did  soon  failed,  and  were 
snatched  away  by  death  from  their  opening 
prospects  of  success,  but  he  has  been  spared  to 
reap  the  fruit  of  his  industry ! Day  after  day 
for  thirty  years  or  more  he  has  been  kept  from 
fatal  accidents,  endowed  with  all  but  uninter- 
rupted health,  crowned  with  every  domestic 
felicity ; his  table  has  been  spread  with  luxuries, 
his  ships  have  crossed  the  ocean  in  safety,  his 
warehouses  and  factories  have  been  spared  the 
devouring  flames ; and  yet,  with  such  an  accu- 
mulated debt  to  the  Father  of  mercies,  he  gives 
no  more  to  aid  in  the  diffusion  of  truth  and  hap- 
piness through  the  world  than  he  did  when  he 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


185 


had  not  contracted  a thousandth  part  of  those 
obligations.  God  has  placed  in  the  hand  of  his 
servant  a thousand-fold  more  wealth  than  he 
formerly  intrusted  to  him,  but  he  has  spent  the 
increase  upon  himself,  and  thus  embezzled  his 
Master’s  money.  Who  can  estimate  the  sinful- 
ness of  such  a course  ? It  is  equally  pernicious 
in  its  influence  on  himself  and  others.  It  is  unjust 
to  his  fellow-men  whose  debtor  he  is ; but  it  is 
more  than  this — it  is  infidelity  to  God,  who  will 
not  fail  to  institute  a scrutiny  into  the  way  we 
have  expended  the  talents  intrusted  to  our  care. 
To  be  wealthy  is  to  be  made  God’s  steward,  and 
for  every  shilling  we  are  responsible  to  him. 

Thomas  Wilson,  of  Highbury,  has  left  a name 
which  will  long  be  remembered  among  those 
who  have  felt  and  discharged  the  responsibilities 
of  wealth.  It  was  his  distinction,”  says  one 
who  knew  him  well,  ‘^to  occupy  singly,  and 
alone,  without  all  doubt  or  competition,  the  first 
place  for  usefulness  in  the  denomination  to  which 
he  belonged.  He  not  only  stood  alone,  but  far 
above  others,  in  that  active,  liberal,  and  well- 
directed  zeal  on  which  the  prosperity  of  any 
cause  so  much  depends.  At  the  age  of  thirty- 
four  he  retired  from  business.  His  fortune  at 
that  time  was  not  what  the  world  would  call 
large,  considering  his  previous  position  in  life, 


186 


MONEY. 


and  he  appears  to  have  been  induced  to  take 
that  step  by  a strong  desire  to  devote  himself  to 
the  cause  of  Christ.  Perhaps  ‘ business/  as  secu- 
lar avocations  are  termed  in  common  parlance, 
had  never  been  quite  congenial  to  his  taste ; but 
this  itself  was  probably  owing  to  the  strong  bias 
of  his  mind  toward  direct  spiritual  effort.  Such 
an  abandonment  of  worldly  occupations  may 
not  be  proper  in  every  case ; some  have  felt  it  a 
duty  to  continue  in  them  in  order  that  they 
might  have  more  to  consecrate  to  schemes  of 
usefulness.  We  cannot  but  admire  the  man 
who,  after  having  acquired  an  ample  fortune, 
resolves,,  instead  of  retiring  into  ease  and  seclu- 
sion, to  undergo  the  fatigues  of  business  that  he 
may  have  more  property  to  consecrate  to  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow- men ; but  it  is  still  more 
admirable  to  see  a man,  like  Mr.  Wilson,  give 
up  business  that  he  may  hereafter  work  exclu- 
sively for  the  spread  of  religion.  Here  we  see 
the  ardor  of  his  piety — the  depth  and  sincerity 
of  his  Christian  principles.  From  the  very  first 
it  was  evident  that  Mr.  Wilson  had  not  aban- 
doned his  former  pursuits  for  the  sake  of  ease ; 
he  brought  into  his  new  avocations  all  the 
method,  earnestness,  and  regularity  which  char- 
acterized him  in  the  old.  The  house  he  occu- 
pied in  Artillery-place  had  only  one  front-room 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


187 


on  the  ground-floor.  ‘ This/  says  his  son,  ^ was 
used  by  my  father  as  a place  for  carrying  on 
his  private  and  public  concerns,  and  was  gener- 
ally called  the  counting-house,  where  he  sat  a 
great  part  of  the  day,  devoting  many  hours  to 
transact  what  he  had  determined  henceforth  to 
make  his  business — the  happy,  joyful  business 
of  doing  good — and  to  which  he  attended  with 
all  the  energy  and  vigor  which  he  had  learned 
and  practiced  in  his  secular  calling.’  ” 

It  is  difflcult  to  estimate  the  amount  of  busi- 
ness in  connection  with  the  cause  of  Christ 
which  Mr.  Wilson  took  into  his  hands.  A mere 
list  of  the  places  of  worship  which  he  originated, 
and  the  cost  of  which  he  in  a great  part  defray- 
ed, would  give  a surprising  view  of  the  extent 
of  his  exertions ; yet  those  which  he  devoted  to 
this  branch  of  labor  were  but  a part  of  his  never- 
ceasing  activity.  He  was  always  accessible ; 
always  ready  to  aid  by  his  friendly  counsel.  He 
took  a lively  interest  in  most  of  the  movements 
of  the  day.  He  was  one  of  the  originators  of 
the  Bible  Society,  the  Tract  Society,  and  the 
London  Missionary  Society.  In  his  post  as 
treasurer  of  Hoxton  Academy,  he  was  indefati- 
gable in  promoting  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
The  very  year  after  he  undertook  the  office  two 
hundred  fresh  names  were  added,  through  his 


188 


MONEY, 


exertion,  to  the  subscription-roll  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  in  a few  years  the  number  of  students 
augmented  sixfold.  The  objects  to  which  he 
chiefly  devoted  himself  were  those  which  prom- 
ised to  be  most  fruitful  in  spiritual  results. 
Firmly  believing  in  the  sufficiency  of  the  gospel, 
when  applied  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  regenerate 
the  world,  he  supported  in  preference  to  others 
those  schemes  which  were  most  adapted  to 
spread  its  influence.  The  good  he  accomplished 
in  this  way  is  beyond  the  power  of  calculation. 
If  his  personal  exertions  are  the  most  valuable 
and  suggestive  part  of  the  offering  he  consecra- 
ted to  the  service  of  his  Master,  his  benefactions 
in  money  were  considerable  : three  enterprises 
of  usefulness  in  the  metropolis  alone,  undertaken 
and  completed  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  cost 
him  £25,000.  This  munificence  is  the  more 
striking  inasmuch  as  it  was  given  out  of  fixed 
income,  and  was  the  fruit  of  resolute  economy. 
In  this  point  of  view  his  conduct  speaks  power- 
fully to  others.  To  see  a man  economizing 
the  resources  of  a handsome,  though  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  useful  career  by  no  means  an 
exuberant  income,  relinquishing  the  equipage 
and  other  appendages  of  wealth,  and  contenting 
himself  with  the  simple  habits  of  men  possessed 
of  not  half  his  means,  in  order  that  he  might 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  189 

have  the  more  to  dispense  ; to  see  this  same  man 
having  an  office,  employing  a clerk,  and  going  to 
the  scene  of  his  benevolent  occupation,  there  to 
be  accessible  to  all  who  wanted  his  money  or 
his  counsel ; and  all  this  with  the  same  constancy, 
punctuality,  and  untiring  perseverance  as  any 
merchant  in  the  metropolis  goes  to  his  counting- 
house,  was  a scene  which  perhaps  had  no  paral- 
lel, and  it  still  has  none  !” 

Thornton  is  an  illustrious  name  in  the  annals 
of  Christian  benevolence.  John  Thornton  was 
a distinguished  merchant,  whose  chief  desire  in 
business,  as  Mr.  Wilson’s  was  in  leaving  it,  seems 
to  have  been  to  lay  a richer  offering  on  the  altar 
of  his  Divine  Master.  He  was  a member  of  the 
Established  Church,  but  his  love  to  Christ  and 
his  cause  was  far  greater  than  his  attachment  to 
any  particular  community.  Like  Mr.  Wilson, 
he  devoted  a considerable  portion  of  his  wealth 
to  the  training  of  young  men  for  the  Christian 
ministry.  Among  those  who  were  the  recipients 
of  his  bounty  in  this  form  was  the  Rev.  John 
Newton,  so  well  known  as  the  friend  of  Cowper, 
and  author  of  the  Olney  Hymns.  A close 
friendship  sprang  up  between  these  two  excel- 
lent men.  Mr.  Newton  became  one  of  his  al- 
moners. He  annually  received  the  sum  of  £200 
to  dispense  in  works  of  mercy,  and  during  his 


190 


MONEY. 


entire  residence  at  Olney  drew  more  than  £3,000 
from  the  funds  of  his  generous  benefactor.  His 
conscientious  fidelity  in  regarding  his  property  as 
a stewardship  is  finely  illustrated  in  the  following 
incident : — A clergyman  called  upon  him  one 
morning  to  receive  a promised  contribution  to 
some  good  cause.  While  waiting  in  an  outer 
room,  he  was  informed  that  Mr.  Thornton  had 
just  received  information  of  a serious  failure,  in- 
volving the  loss  of  no  less  a sum  than  £20,000. 
The  applicant  could  not  help  regretting  his  ill- 
timed  visit,  and  on  being  introduced  to  Mr. 
Thornton,  apologized  for  calling  at  such  a mo- 
ment. ‘^My  dear  sir,”  the  latter  exclaimed, 
‘‘  the  wealth  I have  is  not  mine ; it  is  the  Lord’s — 
and  if  he  is  going  to  take  it  out  of  my  hands,  it 
is  a reason  why  I should  make  good  use  of 
what  is  left.”  With  this  remark  he  doubled  his 
promised  subscription.  The  virtues  which  dis- 
tinguished in  so  eminent  a manner  John  Thorn- 
ton, descended  to  Henry,  his  third  son.  The 
effect  of  the  training  he  had  received  under  his 
parental  roof  were  visible  in  him  from  his  earliest 
years.  At  the  commencement  of  his  business 
career,  the  responsibility  connected  with  the 
possession  of  wealth  occasioned  him  much  seri- 
ous thought.  He  then  solemnly  vowed  that  a 
certain  proportion  of  his  entire  income  should 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


191 


ever  after  be  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 
Throughout  his  whole  life  he  rigidly  adhered  to 
this  resolution.  While  he  remained  unmarried 
he  gave  away  six-sevenths  of  his  income,  amount- 
ing to  not  less  than  £9,000  a year;  and  when 
he  afterward  became  the  head  of  a numerous 
family,  his  annual  benevolence  never  amounted 
to  less  than  £2,000.  A private  account  was 
kept  of  his  various  disbursements  for  charitable 
objects,  proving  that  he  gave  on  system,  and  was 
discriminating  as  well  as  liberal.  The  poor 
and  needy  were  not  the  sole  sharers  of  his  in- 
come. The  fair  and  reasonable  exigencies  of 
those  in  less  humble  situation  were  always  met 
by  him  with  equal  generosity  and  delicacy.’* 
The  philanthropy  he  practiced  was  not  more 
striking  than  the  philanthropy  which  he  taught. 
His  house  was  the  resort  of  men  whose  names 
have  become  eminent  in  the  religious  and  politi- 
cal world.  Wilberforce,  Macaulay,  Grant,  Venn, 
Gisborne,  Simeon,  and  Henry  Martyn,  were 
among  his  frequent  guests,  and  were  accustomed 
to  look  up  to  him  with  affection  and  respect. 
Gifted  with  a sound  and  discerning  judgment, 
‘‘  he  sent  his  hearers  to  their  homes  instructed  in 
a doctrine  cheerful,  genial,  and  active — a doc- 
trine which  taught  them  to  be  sociable  and  busy, 
to  augment  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  the 


192 


MONEY. 


joint-stock  of  human  happiness,  and  freely  to 
take  and  freely  to  enjoy  the  share  assigned  to 
each  by  the  conditions  of  that  universal  partner- 
ship. And  well  did  the  teacher  illustrate  his 
own  maxims.  The  law  of  social  duty,  as  ex- 
plained in  his  domestic  academy,  was  never  ex- 
pounded more  clearly  or  more  impressively  than 
by  his  habitual  example.’’  But  his  high  and 
stainless  integrity  was  one  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  his  character.  Purer  hands,  perhaps, 
were  never  engaged  in  the  transaction  of  com- 
mercial affairs.  He  was  not  only  free  from 
many  obliquities  of  conduct  which  are  observed 
in  persons  who  yet  maintain  a fair  reputation  in 
the  Christian  world,  but  he  was  scrupulous  almost 
to  a fault.  Information  having  reached  him  of  the 
failure  of  a near  kinsman,  he  was  led  to  inquire 
how  far  credit  might  have  been  given  to  his  rel- 
ative, however  unauthorized  by  him,  in  reliance 
upon  his  reputation  and  resources,  and  judged 
it  right  to  cover  the  liabilities  of  the  defaulter 
out  of  his  own  coffers.  A short  time  before  his 
death,  a mercantile  house  having  obtained  from 
his  firm  without  his  knowledge  large  and  im- 
provident advances,  became  so  seriously  embar- 
rassed that  their  bankruptcy  was  urged  upon 
him  as  the  only  hope  of  averting  from  his  own 
house  the  most  serious  losses.  He  resisted  the 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


193 


proposal  on  the  ground  that  those  who  had  given 
undue  credit  had  no  right  to  call  upon  others  to 
divide  the  loss.  To  the  last  farthing  he  discharged 
the  liabilities  of  the  insolvents,  at  a cost  of  more 
than  £20,000.  He  died  in  the  bosom  of  a home, 
says  his  biographer,  which  was  happy  in  his  pres- 
ence, from  whose  lips  no  angry,  morose,  or  impa- 
tient words  ever  fell — on  whose  brow  no  cloud 
of  anxiety  or  discontent  was  ever  seen  to  rest. 

Normand  Smith,  an  American  tradesman, 
furnished  an  interesting  example  of  conscientious 
giving,  and,  in  the  memorial  of  his  life  by  Dr. 
Hawes,  his  actions  yet  speak’ ^ to  stimulate  and 
encourage  others.  He  was  the  elder  son  of  a 
numerous  and  pious  family,  thus  teaching  us  the 
lesson  already  presented  in  the  case  of  Thomas 
Wilson  and  the  Thorntons,  that  domestic  piety 
is  the  school  of  the  Christian  graces.  His  bus- 
iness was  that  of  a saddler.  His  father  assisted 
him  with  capital  at  the  commencement,  but  his  in- 
dustry and  perseverance  soon  enabled  him  to  re- 
pay the  loan.  At  first  his  expectations  of  success 
were  very  moderate.  To  support  his  family  in 
comfort  was  the  utmost  limit  of  his  hopes.  Still, 
while  his  business  was  in  its  infancy  and  his  in- 
come small,  he  set  apart  a portion  for  the  service 
of  Christ.  In  doing  this  he  experienced  the  re- 
ward which  God  has  promised  to  him  that  sow- 
13 


194 


MONEY. 


eth  plentifully.  His  business  succeeded  ; at  the 
end  of  the  first  year  its  profits  were  much  larger 
than  he  had  expected ; at  the  end  of  the  second 
year  they  were  still  greater ; the  third  and  fourth 
year  closed  with  a similar  result.  Such  success 
would  have  been  eminently  dangerous  to  many 
men  ; they  would  have  regarded  it  simply  as  an 
inducement  to  launch  out  further  into  trade,  and 
aim  at  still  greater  accumulations.  Are  there 
not  many  who  might,  with  too  much  reason, 
date  a long  career  of  religious  declension  from 
their  first  prosperous  year  of  business  ? Not 
thus  was  it  with  Normand  Smith.  The  Christian 
tradesman  may  see  in  him  how  wealth  may  be 
sanctified  and  made  the  means  of  promoting  his 
piety.  Finding  himself  getting  rich,  he  instantly 
put  the  question  to  his  heart,  What  does  God 
intend  me  to  do  with  my  money  ? The  reflec- 
tions to  which  he  was  thus  led  resulted  in  a re- 
vival of  religious  principles  and  motives  within 
him.  He  resolved,  after  making  proper  provis- 
ion for  the  wants  of  himself  and  family,  to  give 
the  rest  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  Like  Mr.  Wil- 
son, he  questioned  whether  he  ought  not  to 
leave  his  business,  in  order  to  devote  himself 
more  entirely  to  the  service  of  religion,  but  the 
decision  to  which  he  ultimately  came  was  ad- 
verse to  such  a step.  The  spirit  which  dictated 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


195 


this  decision  may  be  inferred  from  a passage 
from  his  journal  in  reference  to  it : — The  Lord 
has  made  the  path  of  duty  plain  to  me.  For  a 
year  I have  been  much  in  doubt  as  to  the  duty 
of  continuing  my  present  business.  My  mind 
has  become  settled ; I have  determiiied  to  con- 
tinue in  it,  and,  I trust,  not  in  order  to  grow  rich. 
I dare  not  be  rich ; I would  not  be  rich ; they 
that  will  be  rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a snare. 
It  is  my  intention  to  continue  in  business  that  I 
may  serve  God,  and  with  the  expectation  of 
getting  to  give.’’  This  intention  he  conscien- 
tiously carried  into  effect.  Henceforth  he  was 
not  only  diligent  in  business,”  but  studiously 
economical  in  his  expenses — to  save  money  for 
the  cause  of  Christ. 

John  Wesley’s  maxim  in  reference  to  wealth 
was  : Get  all  you  can,  save  all  you  can,  give 

all  you  can.”  Perhaps  the  best  exemplification 
of  this  maxim  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  the 
late  Mr.  Samuel  Budgett,  of  Bristol,  a member 
of  the  denomination  which  bears  the  name  of 
that  eminent  man.  The  Memoir  of  Mr.  Bud- 
gett, from  the  pen  of  the  Rev,  W.  Arthur,  is  an 
armory  of  counsels  and  cautions  to  the  man  of 
business.  Two  lessons  in  particular  may  be 
drawn  from  it,  namely,  that  rigid  justice  in  get- 
ting may  be  combined  with  bounteous  liberality 


196 


MONEY. 


in  giving,  and  that  the  severest  application  to 
worldly  pursuits  may  be  combined  with  the  most 
fervent  anxiety  for  the  attainment  of  spiritual 
blessings.  The  latter  of  these  is  very  important. 
How  many  believe  it  impossible  to  be  at  once  a 
thorough  man  of  business  and  a thorough  Chris- 
tian, and  that  one  or  the  other  must  be  abandon- 
ed ! This  dangerous  skepticism  is  rebutted  by  a 
single  glance  at  the  life  of  a man  like  Mr.  Bud- 
gett.  In  the  first  place,  none  can  deny  that  he 
was  eminently  successful  in  business.  He  began 
his  career  in  the  capacity  of  shopman  to  his 
brother,  with  forty  pounds  salary — this  was  his 
commencement.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he 
was  made  a partner — ^junior  partner  of  a small 
retail  shop.  In  thirty  years  after  we  see  him  at 
the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  mercantile  houses 
in  the  west  of  England,  turning  over  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a million  annually  in  ready 
cash.  Nor  is  this  result  surprising  when  we 
consider  the  man.  Enterprise,  caution,  method, 
accuracy,  punctuality,  perseverance,  shrewdness 
— all  these  elements  of  the  thorough  man  of  busi- 
ness— were  found  in  him : so  that  his  success 
seemed  to  flow  naturally  from  the  exertions  he 
put  forth.  If  any  man  had  no  time  for  relig- 
ion,^’ surely  it  was  he.  And  yet  religion  was 
his  life ; here  he  found  motives  to  industry. 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN.  197 

precepts  for  his  guidance,  a refreshing  stream 
of  comfort  and  hope,  a sphere  in  which  his 
moral  energies  might  find  employment.  Relig- 
ion in  him  was  not  a separate  faculty ; it  leav- 
ened all  his  actions  and  pervaded  his  whole  na- 
ture. Business  and  religion  were  to  him  perfect- 
ly compatible  with  each  other.  His  warehouse 
was  a place  of  prayer ; there  a spot  was  conse- 
crated to  devotion,  and  there  the  master  gather- 
ed his  men  around  him,  and  led  them  in  prayer 
to  the  Giver  of  everything  good  and  perfect. 
How  many  Christians  abandon  the  prayer-meet- 
ing when  business  grows  upon  them  ! Mr.  Bud- 
gett  did  not ; he  was  foremost  in  the  means  of 
grace  as  in  the  means  of  wealth,  and  thus  spir- 
itual riches  kept  pace  with  his  temporal  gains. 
But  in  the  use  he  made  of  his  wealth  we  see 
the  most  conspicuous  illustration  of  his  piety. 
His  liberahty  in  giving  surpassed  perhaps  his 
diligence  in  getting.  His  charity  was  overflow- 
ing. He  distributed  with  discrimination  and 
liberality,  and  without  ostentation,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  those  who  were  near  spectators  of  his 
liberality,  fully  £2,000  a year.  His  biographer 
thinks  this  too  high  as  an  average ; but  if  it  was 
anything  approaching  that  sum,  what  an  exam- 
ple of  giving  does  it  place  before  us ! His  be- 
nevolence had  few  crotchets.  It  was  the  off- 


198 


MONEY. 


spring  of  genuine  principles.  He  loved  to  do 
good ; and  in  whatever  direction  it  was  possible 
to  do  this,  there  he  might  be  found.  His  gen- 
erosity was  not  confined  to  specially  religious 
objects.  To  these,  it  is  true,  he  gave  largely. 
The  gospel  appeared  to  him,  as  it  must  to  all 
who  truly  understand  it,  the  one  great  lever  by 
which  mankind  are  to  be  raised  from  sin  and  its 
attendant  misery,  and  every  organization  which 
was  adapted  to  extend  its  influence  found  in  him 
a ready  friend.  But  he  appreciated  the  tempo  - 
ral  necessities  of  those  around  him,  and  delight- 
ed to  alleviate  them.  During  the  distress  ot 
1847,  he  paid  large  sums  in  wages  to  extra 
hands  in  order  to  provide  them  with  food.  Many 
a poor  person  has  he  helped  by  a timely  pres- 
ent to  surmount  the  little  disasters  of  humble 
life,  and  many  more  have  been  indebted  to  him 
at  the  outset  of  their  career  for  friendly  counsel 
and  pecuniary  aid.  The  successful  merchant,’’ 
the  type  of  a class  not  unusually  the  object  of 
envy  in  the  neighborhood  where  they  reside, 
was  greatly  beloved.  The  interest  he  took  in  the 
welfare  of  the  lowest  and  roughest  of  the  popu- 
lation led  them  to  regard  him  with  respect. 
Their  demeanor  in  his  presence  proclaimed  their 
conviction  that  he  was,  in  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, ‘‘a  good  man.”  ‘‘Mr.  Budgett  was  a 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


199 


neighbor  to  the  inhabitants  of  Kings  wood  ; thou- 
sands of  his  gold  and  thousands  of  his  hours 
were  given  for  their  weal,  and  to  the  last  his  care 
was  for  the  maintenance  of  those  means  of  grace 
which  had  been  so  much  blessed.’’  He  did  not 
pass  with  unconcern  through  the  uncivilized  dis- 
tricts which  surrounded  the  scene  of  his  money- 
making enterprises.  He  felt,  and  justly  too, 
that  there  lay  a missionary  sphere  for  him : those 
men  were  to  be  won  by  kindness  and  candor 
to  the  side  of  religion ; those  boys  were  to 
be  instructed  and  trained  so  as  to  become  a 
blessing  rather  than  a curse  to  society;  those 
squalid  dwellings  were  to  be  changed  into  clean- 
ly abodes  by  the  refining  power  of  example, 
counsel,  and  Christian  piety.  To  grow  rich  in 
such  a neighborhood,  to  build  up  a glittering 
pile  of  wealth  in  the  midst  of  so  much  ignorance 
and  vice,  without  laying  himself  out  for  useful- 
ness proportioned  to  his  increasing  means,  ap- 
peared to  him  unworthy  of  a religious  man. 
He  could  not  do  it;  at  least  he  did  not  do  it. 
The  indefatio^able  man  of  business  was  found 
working  within  the  shadow  of  his  own  residence 
as  the  earnest  philanthropist,  the  steady  friend 
of  the  poor,  the  originator  of  every  movement 
by  which  the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of 
his  neighbors  might  be  advanced.  0 that  such 


200 


MONEY. 


an  example  were  universally  followed  by  our 
men  of  wealth ! How  speedily  would  many 
social  evils  vanish ! ‘‘  The  wilderness  and  the 

solitary  place’^  indeed  would  soon  be  glad  1” 
But  it  is  not  the  wealthy  alone  upon  whom 
the  obligation  of  Christian  benevolence  descends ; 
this  is  the  common  inheritance  of  the  followers 
of  Christ.  Perhaps  nowhere  are  the  obligations 
of  giving  better  illustrated  than  among  those  less 
affluent  members  of  the  Christian  Church  with 
whom  an  act  of  generosity  is  also  perforce  one 
of  self-denial — who  have  to  economize  in  order 
to  give.  A pleasing  instance  of  this  kind  may 
be  mentioned  as  of  recent  occurrence.  Last 
year,  a lady,  a member  of  a Church  in  London, 
died  bequeathing  £600  to  one  of  the  principal 
missionary  societies.  The  missionary  cause  had 
been  dear  to  her.  During  her  life  the  secreta- 
ries of  the  Society  referred  to  were  in  the  habit 
of  seeing  her  at  the  Mission  House  every  six 
weeks  or  two  months.  On  these  occasions  she 
always  had  some  suggestion  to  make  by  which 
the  funds  might  be  increased,  and  several  times 
in  the  course  of  the  year  brought  a sum — never 
less  than  £10 — as  her  own  contribution.  This, 
the  reader  will  say,  was  munificent.  How  many 
thousands  who  profess  the  same  attachment  to 
the  schemes  of  Christian  piety,  and  enjoy  exten- 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


sive  means,  are  content  to  do  mucli  less  ! yet  t 
lady  never  at  any  one  period  of  her  life  poss< 
ed  more  than  £60  per  annum.  She  gav 
in  the  sight  of  God ; she  abstained  from  pers 
al  enjoyment  to  forward  his  cause ; and  no 
having  passed  to  that  heavenly  state  where 
is  joy  and  perfection,  one  cannot  but  belie 
that  there  must  be  some  stars  in  her  crown  ' 
fleeted  from  the  sanctity  of  her  mode  of  givin 
This  is  an  illustration  of  what  all,  to  a great 
or  less  extent,  may  do.  Some  part  of  every  i 
come,  however  small,  should  be  set  aside 
domg  good.  This  should  be  placed  among  t 
common  ends  of  life,  to  be  promoted,  not  b; 
what  may  be  casually  left  when  every  other  cal 
has  been  supplied — by  the  crumbs  which  fal 
from  the  table — but  by  the  first-fruits  of  our  in 
dustry. 

An  instance  of  exalted  Christian  philanthropy 
more  remarkable  in  some  respects  than  those  w 
have  already  referred  to,  is  found  in  the  early 
history  of  Robert  and  James  Alexander  Hal 
DANE.  These  were  extraordinary  men,  endowe  ’ 
with  strong  mental  capacities,  and,  above  all 
a large-heartedness  which  led  them  to  devot 
themselves  with  burning  and  inextinguishabl 
zeal  to  the  service  of  Christ.  Their  joint  lives 
will  be  regarded  hereafter  as  marking  an  import- 


MONEY. 


era  in  the  spiritual  condition  of  their  native 
, and  were  not  without  an  important  bearing 
he  general  progress  of  the  cause  of  Christ, 
bert  Haldane  inherited  the  estate  of  Aithrie, 
r Stirling — a place  of  such  beauty  that  a 
otch  nobleman  rather  extravagantly  remarked 
it  that  it  was  a perfect  heaven  upon  earth/’ 
th  an  ample  fortune  and  the  advantage  of  a 
tinguished  descent,  the  world  opened  to  him 
career  of  great  promise  ; but  God  opened  his 
es  to  behold  a better  inheritance,  and  made 
willing  to  count  all  earthly  gain  as  dross 
at  he  might  obtain  it.  Immediately  after  his 
)nversion  he  began  to  feel  a deep  interest  in 
e spiritual  welfare  of  others.  Circumstances 
irected  his  sympathies  in  the  first  instance  to 
be  heathen  world.  It  was  the  time  when  An- 
rew  F uller,  on  behalf  of  the  Baptist  Missionary 
ociety,  then  recently  formed,  was  delivering  his 
trong  and  stirring  discourses  in  the  churches  of 
Scotland.  It  is  a striking  illustration  of  the 
sefulness  of  that  eminent  man,  that  his  pulpit 
ddresses  were  the  means  of  determining  to  such 
istinguished  liberality  two  such  men  as  Thomas 
ilson  of  Highbury,  and  Robert  Haldane  of 
ithrie.  The  subject  of  missions  sank  deep  into 
he  heart  of  the  latter.  He  began  to  think  it 
is  duty  to  go  himself  to  Bengal  to  labor  for  the 


MODELS  FOR  MONEYED  MEN. 


conversion  of  the  Hindoos,  and  to  consecrate 
property  to  the  work.  He  ruminated  over 
project  for  six  months,  mentioned  it  to  his 
who  cordially  approved  it,  and  then  went  to  L 
don  to  confer  on  the  subject  with  several,  e 
nent  men,  whom  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  as  c 
leagues  in  the  work.  His  plan  was  to  sell 
estate,  and  defray  the  entire  outfit  of  the  missi 
then  £3,500  was  to  be  given  to  each  minis 
who  should  accompany  him,  as  a temporal  p 
vision  for  their  families,  while  £25,000  was  to 
invested  for  the  future  sustenance  of  the  miss' 
Circumstances  finally  prevented  the  carrying 
of  this  design,  but  the  zeal  in  which  it  origina 
proved  its  genuineness  by  the  works  it  straig 
way  induced  him  to  undertake  at  home.  In  c( 
junction  with  his  brother,  he  made  Scotland 
scene  of  his  missionary  labors ; and  in  lYOS  s 
the  estate  at  Aithrie,  that  he  might  have  m 
money  to  devote  to  the  purposes  of  evangel 
tion.  What  a spectacle  of  primitive  simpli 
was  thus  given  by  these  two  distinguished  m^ 
How  full  of  earnestness  and  faith  was  their 
duct ! Christianity,’’  exclaimed  Robert  H 
dane,  is  either  everything  or  it  is  nothin 
and  in  the  spirit  of  this  sentiment  he  spent  his  li 
He  expended  thousands  in  spreading  the  gos 
among  the  population  of  Scotland,  and  rous 


MONEY. 


essing  Christians  everywhere  to  a truer  sense 
eir  duties  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  dis- 
ged  his  own.  It  must  be  noticed  in  connec- 
with  these  self-denying  exertions  at  home, 
he  carried  the  heart  and  the  aim  of  an  apos- 
nto  everything  he  did.  It  was  in  consequence 
visit  he  paid  to  Geneva  that  the  remarkable 
ival  of  evangelical  sentiments  took  place  among 
students  at  the  university  of  that  city,  which 
to  the  conversion  of  several  men  of  distin- 
^hed  eminence  in  after  years  in  the  Church  of 
ist,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Drs. 
ssen,  Malan,  and  Merle  d’Aubigne,  the  cele- 
ted  historian  of  the  Reformation.  Thus  ex- 
ive  are  the  means  of  usefulness  which  lie  in 
hands  of  a single  individual,  who  anxiously 
lends  the  talent  intrusted  to  him  in  the  fear 
to  the  glory  of  God.  What  would  be  the 
It  if  similar  devotedness  were  manifested  by 
he  followers  of  Christ ! 

it  be  the  reader’s  happy  privilege  to  tread 
heir  steps,  and  to  experience  the  sweetness 
n entire  surrender  of  the  soul  to  Him  ‘‘  who, 
ugh  he  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  became 
r,  that  we  through  his  poverty  might  be  rich !” 


APPENDIX. 


ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  SAVINGS'  BANKS. 

In  the  main  body  of  our  work  we  have  noticed 
the  institution  of  savings’  banks.  The  merit  of 
inventing  these  useful  depositories  for  the  savings 
of  the  poor  has  been  frequently  claimed  for  En- 
gland. The  subjoined  notice  from  volume  iv. 
of  the  Bankers’  Magazine  shows,  however,  that 
they  were  known  in  other  countries  before  the 
time  of  their  establishment  in  Great  Britain: — 
It  is  probable  that  during  the  last  and  pres- 
3nt  centuries  there  have  been  more  public  writ- 
ers whose  works  have  directly  tended  to  attract 
general  attention  to  the  means  of  ameliorating 
the  condition  of  the  poor  than  during  any  previ- 
ous centuries.  No  arrangement,  however,  next 
to  providing  employment  for  the  poorer  classes, 
and  by  it  the  means  of  present  subsistence,  was 
so  important  as  that  affording  them  the  oppor- 
tunity of  husbanding  their  resources  to  form  a 
provision  against  declining  age  and  future  neces- 


206 


MONEY. 


sities.  Such  an  arrangement,  at  first  only  par- 
tially effected  by  the  institution  of  the  Friendly 
Societies,  would,  it  was  expected  by  the  found- 
ers of  deposit  hanks  for  the  safe  custody  and 
increase  of  small  savings  belonging  to  the  indus- 
trious classes,  have  been  completed  through  the 
medium  of  these  institutions ; but  although  large 
sums  have  been  from  time  to  time  accumulated 
in  them,  the  proportion  belonging  to  the  poorer 
classes  has,  it  is  feared,  been  a very  small  item. 
Among  the  principal  advocates  for  the  founda- 
tion and  extension  of  savings’  banks,  as  displayed 
in  their  various  works  on  the  subject^  may  be 
named  Rose  and  Colquhoun  in  England,  Ber- 
noulli and  De  Candolle  in  Switzerland,  Krause 
and  Malchus  in  Germany,  and  Delessert  and 
Prevost  in  France. 

It  has  been  stated  by  a German  writer  that 
the  first  savings’  bank  in  Europe  of  which  there 
is  now  any  public  record  was  established  at 
Berne  in  Switzerland,  in  lYSY  ; that  about  the 
same  time  another  was  established  in  Geneva ; 
and  that  in  the  year  1792  a third  was  establish- 
ed at  Basle.  From  that  period  the  savings’ 
banks  in  Switzerland  have  gone  on  gradually  in- 
creasing. As  regards  England,  it  appears  cer- 
tain, although  there  has  been  some  controversy 
on  the  subject,  that  the  first  institution  here,  ap- 


APPENDIX. 


20Y 


proximating  in  its  character  to  the  existing 
savings^  banks — though  on  private,  not  national 
security — was  established  in  the  year  1798,  at 
Tottenham,  in  the  neighborhood  of  London. 
Subsequently  similar  institutions  were  founded, 
namely,  at  Wendover,  in  1799  ; at  West  Calder 
and  at  Ruthwell  in^ Scotland,  in  1807  and  1810  ; 
at  Bath,  in  1808  ; at  Edinburgh,  in  1813  ; and 
at  London  and  other  places  in  1816.  The  dates 
of  the  first  acts  of  Parliament  by  which  the  gov- 
ernment undertook  at  the  public  expense  and  on 
national  security  the  support  of  savings’  banks 
are  the  11th  and  12th  of  July,  1817  ; and  within 
a few  months  of  that  period  there  were  about 
one  hundred  savings’  banks  in  England.  This 
number  has  gone  on  gradually  increasing ; and  on 
the  20th  of  ISTovember,  1842 — the  date  up  to 
which  the  printed  parliamentary  return  on  the 
subject  was  made  up — it  amounted  to  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

‘‘It  was  not  until  the  year  1818  that  France 
imitated  the  example  of  Switzerland  and  England 
in  the  establishment  of  savings’  banks,  the  first 
institution  of  the  sort  in  that  country  being  open- 
ed in  Paris  on  the  15  th  of  November  in  that 
year. 

“ Others  were  very  soon  afterward  established 
in  the  different  provinces  ; and  the  total  number 


208 


MONEY. 


of  them  on  the  31st  of  December,  1844,  was 
three  hundred  and  thirty-two,  exclusive  of  the 
Paris  Savings’  Bank  and  its  branches.  In  addi- 
tion to  Switzerland,  England,  and  France,  sav- 
ings’ banks  for  the  poorer  classes  have  been  es- 
tablished within  the  last  few  years  in  almost  all 
the  other  countries  of  Europe.” 

That  these  institutions  have  exerted  a most 
favorable  effect  on  the  temporal  welfare  of  the 
communities  into  which  they  have  been  intro- 
duced, cannot  be  doubted  by  any  who  have  at- 
tentively considered  their  effects  upon  the  hum- 
bler classes  of  society. 

They  are  now  established  in  nearly  all  our 
American  cities ; and  thousands  of  persons,  who 
would  run  great  chances  of  losing  their  money 
if  they  undertook  to  keep  it  themselves,  make 
safe  deposits  in  these  banks,  and  receive  regular 
interest  upon  the  sums  deposited. 


THE  END. 


i , 


